C-1) 


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.  .// 


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^//, 


CORISCO     DAYS 

THE    FIRST   THIRTY    YEARS    OF   THE 
WEST    AFRICA    MISSION 


REV.  ROBERT  HAM  ILL  NASSAU,  S/f.D. 

Author  of  "Fetishism  in  West  Africa." 


If /a 


PHILADELPHIA 

ALLEN,  LANE  &  SCOTT 

PRINTERS  AND  PUBLISHERS 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  witii  funding  from 

Princeton  Tiieological  Seminary  Library 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/coriscodaysfirstOOnass 


FOREWORD. 


I  have  not  tried  to  make  this  a  history  of  the  West 
Africa  Mission  down  to  present  date.  Purposely,  I 
have  confined  these  sketches  to  the  extreme  Hmits  of 
the  fifty  years  from  1842,  the  beginning  of  the  old 
Gaboon  Mission,  to  about  1892. 

I  preferred  to  include  the  records  of  only  the  thirty 

/  0  !)^    years  from  182^9,  the  beginning  of  the  old  Corisco  Mis- 

/  ^J^    sion,  to  about  "rSy^,  when  Corisco  ceased  to  be  under 

white  control,  the  management  of  its  ecclesiastical  and 

educational  affairs  being  placed  in  ei^cient  native  hands. 

More  especially,  I  have  confined  myself  to  the  days 
of  the  ten  years,  1861  to  1871,  during  which  I  was 
personally  located  at  Corisco  and  Benita. 

R.  H.  NASSAU. 


(3) 


NOTE. 


In  pronouncing  native  Bantu  words, 

1.  Give  to  the  consonants  their  usual  English  sound,  except 
that  g  is  always  hard,  and  y  is  never  a  vowel. 

2.  Give  to  the  vowels, 

a  as   in   English   far, 

d  as   in    English   law, 

e  as  in    English   they, 

e  as   in   English   met, 

i    as  in   English   machine,  e. 

u  as  in    English   rule, 

o  as  in   English  know, 

3.  Close  every  syllable  with  a  vowel. 

4.  Accentuate  the  next  to  the  last  syllable. 

5.  Where  double  or  triple  consonants  begin  the  first  syllable 
of  a  word,  prefix  to  them  a  slight  vowel  sound,  e.  g.  Mpongwe  = 
iMpo-ngwe;  and  ngweya  =  ingwe-ya. 

6.  Ng  has  the  reduplicated  nasal  sound  of  ng  in  the  English 
finger,  (as  if  fing-nger). 


e. 

g- 

Ulato; 

e. 

g- 

Haka; 

e. 

or 

Elobi; 

e. 

g- 

Lembwe; 

e. 

g- 

Bonito; 

e. 

&• 

Uganda ; 

e 

g 

Kongo. 

(4) 


INDEX. 


Chapter  Page 

Foreword 3 

Index 5 

I.     Geography  of  the  Corisco  Region 7 

1,  The  Island  and  its  Mission  Stations 7 

2,  A  Walk  Around  the  Island 10 

3,  The  Bay  and  its  Islands 22 

4,  Elobi  Islands  and  Adjacent  Parts 25 

5,  Aje  Out-Station 28 

6,  Hanje  Out-Station 30 

7,  Benita  Station 33 

8,  Up  the  Bonito  River 36 

II.      An  African  Village 41 

III.  A  Native  African  Church 43 

IV.  Childhood  in  Africa 50 

V.     Betrothments  and  Marriage 53 

VI.      Mourning  for  the  Dead 56 

VII.      The  Sabbath  on  Heathen  Ground 63 

VIII.     A  Sabbath  School  in  a  Heathen  Land. 66 

IX.     Come  to  Prayers 71 

X.     Lights  and  Shades 74 

XI.      Native  Evangelists 78 

XII.     The  Ukuku  Fight 86 

XIII.  The  Building  of  a  Church 92 

XIV.  Corisco  Transferred 97 

XV.      A  Life  for  the  Interior 102 

XVI.     First  Ten  Years  of  the  Benita  Church 122 

XVII.      Into  the  Sunrise 131 

XVIII.     The  Town  of  Libreville 134 

XIX.     A  Trading  Settlement 140 

XX.     A  Communion  Service  at  Baraka 143 

XXI.  The    First   Thirty   Years   of   the    West    Africa 

Mission 146 

XXII.  Thirty    Years    of  the  Presbytery   of    Corisco, 

1860-1890 163 

(5) 


CHAPTER  I. 

Geography  of  the  Corisco  Region. 

i.  the  island  and  its  mission  stations. 

THE  young  may  be  frightened  at  the  word  "geog- 
raphy," and  their  elders  may  despise  the  idea 
of  being  taught  what  they  are  supposed  to  have 
learned  long  ago. 

I  think,  however,  both  parties  are  in  error;  many  do 
not  know  where  are  the  stations  of  some  foreign  mis- 
sions; and,  as  to  the  Corisco  Mission  location,  maps  of 
Africa  are  exceedingly  incomplete.  Because,  great  as 
is  the  importance  of  those  localities  for  influence  on 
Africa's  spiritual  welfare,  they  are  so  near  each  other, 
and  (some  of  them)  of  so  small  commercial  interest,  that 
they  would  not  appear  on  any  other  than  a  missionary 
map. 

About  a  degree  north  of  the  equator,  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  by  its  Gulf  of  Guinea,  extends  fifteen  miles  into 
the  land,  between  two  points  about  forty  miles  apart, 
viz. :  Cape  St.  John  on  the  north  and  Cape  Esterias  on 
the  south,  thus  enclosing  Corisco  Bay. 

On  a  line  connecting  these  two  points  is  Corisco  Island 
(native  name  Manji),  about  twenty  miles  from  each  Cape, 
and  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  from  the  adjacent  mainland 
eastward.  It  is  irregularly  shaped;  in  length  some  five 
miles,  in  width  three.  Its  surface  is  exceedingly  diversi- 
fied with  slight  hills,  valleys,  plains,  springs  and  streams. 
One  stream,  Lembwe,  flowing  from  a  small  central  lake, 

(7) 


8  CORISCO    DAYS. 

Bololwe,  never  fails,  even  in  the  Dry  Season.  A  wide 
dazzlingly  white  beach  surrounds  the  island,  markedly 
diflferent  from  the  tawny  sands  of  the  mainland.  There 
are  no  large  wild  animals,  only  small  ones  like  squirrels, 
chameleons,  lizards,  snakes,  iguanas,  and  birds.  Long 
reefs  extending  from  the  shore  afford  at  low  tide  fine 
ground  for  gulls  and  sea-eagles;  and  for  the  native 
women  to  gather  shell  and  other  fish. 

On  the  island  there  were  three  places  occupied  by 
the  Mission.  On  a  promontory  toward  the  south  end 
was  Ugobi,  the  school  for  boys  of  the  Benga  tribe.  It 
was  the  first  spot  occupied  by  the  mission.  Near  it 
were  Ulato,  Ngelapindi,  and  other  native  villages  with 
many  people.  The  view  seaward  is  beautiful.  A  little 
archipelago  lies  to  the  south  and  east  and  west;  and  on 
the  south  and  east  extends  the  blue  sky  line  of  the  main- 
land. At  Ugobi  lived  and  died  Rev.  George  M'Queen. 
Afterward  it  was  occupied  by  Rev.  C.  DeHeer.  After 
him,  it  was  no  longer  held  by  a  white  missionary;  but, 
a  native  candidate  for  the  ministry  lived  there  and  taught 
the  remaining  scholars;  and,  on  the  Sabbath,  one  of 
the  missionaries  of  another  station  preached  at  the  chapel 
there.  But  it  is  abandoned,  the  work  having  been 
transferred  to  Alongo.  To  Ugobi  was  a  two-miles  walk, 
most  of  the  way  along  a  white,  hard,  beach,  from 
Evangasimba. 

Evangasimba,  standing  centrally  on  the  western  side 
of  the  island,  was  the  principal  Station.  There  was  the 
church.  There  were  two  mission  dwelling-houses,  a 
few  hundred  yards  apart,  viz.:  the  treasurers,  and  the 
girls'-school   superintendent's.     In   the  treasurer's   yard 


CORISCO    DAYS.  9 

was  the  storehouse  of  provisions  and  of  all  kinds  of 
goods,  with  which  to  pay  expenses  of  schools  and  Sta- 
tions; for,  unlike  missions  to  other  countries,  ours  did 
not  pay  and  buy  with  cash,  the  people  not  being  civil- 
ized enough  to  use  money;  but  our  workmen  and 
teachers  were  paid,  and  our  school  children's  food,  (and 
much  of  our  own),  was  bought  with  knives,  and  plates, 
and  beads,  and  cloth,  and  a  hundred  other  things.  This 
was  very  troublesome;  but  it  was  less  expensive  than 
the  use  of  cash  would  be.  Under  the  treasurer's  charge 
was  also  a  carpenter-shop,  where  the  natives  learned  to 
make  chests  and  tables  and  other  useful  articles.  The 
girls'  school  dwelling  was  called  "Itandeluku,"  to  distin- 
guish it.  The  children  were  under  the  care  of  female 
missionaries,  but,  one  man  usually  lived  there  as  super- 
intendent, taught  candidates  for  the  ministry,  preached 
at  Ugobi.  and  visited  the  mainland  out-stations.  Those 
two  missionary  dwellings,  with  their  numerous  outhouses 
in  a  large  cleared  space,  quite  resembled  civilization, 
and  afforded  a  pleasing  sight,  as  one,  coming  in  from 
the  sea,  looked  upon  them.  It  was  finally  abandoned, 
and  its  work  transferred  to  Benita,  on  the  mainland. 
The  Spanish  Roman  Catholics  have  now  a  mission  at 
Evangasimba. 

Three  miles  from  Evangasimba  is  Alongo,  on  a  high 
promontory  at  the  north  end  of  the  island.  It  was  a 
school  for  boys  from  the  mainland  tribes.  It  was  first 
occupied  by  the  Rev.  William  Clemens;  but,  subse- 
quently, by  the  Rev.  C.  DeHeer.  The  view  from  Alongo 
is  wide,  west  and  north,  and  eastward  into  the  Bay. 
That  school  was  blessed  by  God.     From  its  pupils  arose 


lO  CORISCO    DAYS. 

almost  all  the  young  men  who  became  assistants  as 
Scripture-Readers  among  their  own  mainland  natives. 
Tts  light  shone.  Light,  if  true  light,  cannot  help  shining. 
God  blessed  its  former  pupils'  teaching  among  their  own 
people,  and  saved  many  souls  by  their  work,  worth  in- 
finitely more  than  all  the  money  that  has  been  given 
for  that  school,  or  spent  on  the  whole  mission. 

All  the  work  on  Corisco  Island  is  now  concentrated 
at  Alongo;  and  it  is  carried  on  without  any  foreign 
white  aid,  under  the  charge  of  a  native  minister,  all  of 
the  expenses  being  paid  by  the  native  church-members 
themselves. 

2.    A   WALK    AROUND    THE    ISLAND, 

If  you  had  been  on  Corisco  Island,  and  were  visiting 
at  the  Girls'  School,  I  could  have  taken  you  a  pleasant 
walk,  and  shown  you  a  variety  of  new  things.  We  called 
the  house  Itandeluku,  which  is  written  short  for  Itande- 
ja-iluku;  it  meant  "Love-of-a-sister,"  or  Sisterly-love. 
Sometimes  it  was  called,  simply  Maluku  (Sisters).  Let 
us  imagine  we  are  taking  that  walk. 

The  Spring. 

But,  come!  if  you  stop  long  to  look  at  the  house,  the 
pleasant  part  of  the  day  will  be  gone,  and  perhaps  rain 
may  soon  come.  You  ask,  "Why!  do  you  have  much 
rain?"  "Yes,  plenty  of  it;  and  glad  I  am  of  it;  for,  it 
fills  up  the  springs."  You  suggest,  "Well,  then,  let  us 
go  to  the  spring."  So,  out  of  the  back-door,  down  the 
flight  of  steps,  and  along  a  narrow  path,  lined  by  pine- 
apples.    You   exclaim,    "Pine-apples!"     Yes,   you   may 


CORISCO    DAYS.  II 

pluck  and  eat  a  whole  one  yourself,  without  danger  of 
being  made  sick.  I  do  not  wish  any  myself;  I  am  tired 
of  them.  If  my  friends  in  America  could  have  thrown 
me  an  apple  across  the  sea,  I  would  have  flung  back  to 
them  a  dozen  pine-apples. 

Then,  down  a  short  and  rather  steep  declivity,  and 
we  are  in  the  lower  corner  of  the  yard.  When  the 
house  was  built,  the  forest  and  underwood  were  all 
cleared  away,  except  in  this  corner  about  the  spring. 
It  was  a  low,  damp  spot.  A  heavy  ledge  of  rock  projects 
from  the  ground.  On  this,  and  in  its  crevices,  were 
trees  growing;  which  with  their  roots  bound  rocks  and 
earth  together.  Under  one  corner  of  the  ledge,  the 
earth  had  been  scooped  out  about  a  foot  in  depth,  mak- 
ing a  basin  some  four  feet  across.  The  bright,  clear, 
cool  water  flowed,  not  bubbled,  but  ran  continuously 
from  its  hidden  source  under  the  rocks  and  from  the 
root  of  the  hill  on  which  the  house  stood.  It  over- 
flowed the  rim  of  the  little  scooped-out  basin,  ran  off 
among  a  clump  of  bamboo-palms  (that  love  a  wet 
swampy  place)  and  wandered  through  the  woods,  down 
toward  the  sea.     It  was  very  sweet  water. 

What  a  delicious  thing  a  cool  water  draught  is !  How 
painful  to  be  thirsty,  even  for  a  few  hours!  Yet,  many 
travelers  have  died  in  deserts,  being  without  water  for 
days.  A  little  water  would  have  saved  their  lives.  Well 
does  Jesus  call  Himself  the  Water  of  Life!  He  is  the 
"Fountain  opened."  Who  would  not  give  for  water  all 
he  possesses,  if  dying  of  thirst? 

That  spring  went  dry  three  or  four  months  in  the 
year.     At  the  "Latter"  Rainy  Season  time  (March)  it  is 


12  CORISCO    DAYS. 

full;  for,  rain  is  then  plenty.  Put  some  of  the  water  in 
a  Canary-Island  filter,  (a  hollowed  soft  stone),  and  it  drips 
through  clear.  Put  this  away  in  an  unglazed  earthen 
urn  or  carafife,  on  a  window-ledge,  or  other  shaded  place, 
where  there  is  a  current  of  air,  and  it  will  become  so 
cool,  that  you  will  not  often  wish  for  ice,  even  in  hot 
Africa.  (But,  when  sick,  one  does  long  for  the  ice!) 
In  May,  water  would  be  scarce.  The  spring  then 
changed,  by  beginning  to  run  slowly,  became  muddy, 
and,  before  the  end  of  June,  it  would  be  dry.  There 
was  no  rain  in  the  Cold  Dry  Season  (June- August) ; 
and  all  the  water  for  the  school  had  to  be  carried  in  jugs 
on  a  man's  back,  from  another  spring  that  did  not  go 
dry,  a  mile  away  in  the  woods.  But  we  usually  tried  to 
get  enough  for  all  the  children's  wants.  They  would 
feel  the  need,  and  would  have  suffered  much  if  they  did 
not  have  their  cup  of  water. 

With  glad  thoughts  about  the  free  and  unfailing  Water 
of  Life,  we  turn  and  retrace  our  steps  up  the  slight 
declivity. 

The  Social  Birds. 

Here  we  are  under  a  tree  of  ordinary  height,  but  that 
seems  taller,  because  there  are  no  branches  except  at  its 
very  top,  where  there  is  a  cluster  spread  out  somewhat 
like  an  umbrella.  "But,  what  a  twittering  of  birds!"  you 
exclaim.  Yes;  they  are  what  I  want  you  to  look  at. 
When  I  lived  there  I  did  not  allow  them  to  be  disturbed, 
and  they  were  quite  tame. 

Now  watch  them!  There  are  black  ones,  and  there 
are  yellow  ones,  like  orioles,  and  there  are  others  colored 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I3 

like  a  brown  canary.  Perhaps  these  were  two  different 
species  Hving  together.  They  reminded  me  of  sparrows 
in  their  shape.  They  had  no  melody  in  their  voice,  but 
were  forever  twittering,  like  swallows.  They  were  very, 
very  busy,  always  building  houses. 

See!  the  entire  tree,  at  its  terminal  twigs,  is  covered 
with  scores  of  nests.  Here  are  scores  of  nests  lying 
on  the  ground,  blown  down  by  the  winds.  A  very 
singular  structure.  It  is  a  hanging  nest.  The  en- 
trance is  near  the  bottom;  and,  observe,  it  does  not 
slant  downwards,  but  upwards.  For  what  reason,  do 
you  think?  Because,  like  the  eaves  of  a  house,  the  rain 
was  shed  from  it.  While  the  twig  to  which  the  nest  is 
attached  was  rocking  under  the  blasts  of  wind,  the  bird 
could  lie  in  its  corner,  its  weight  keeping  the  lower  end 
of  the  nest  downward,  and  the  slant  of  one  side  over 
the  entrance  serving  as  a  roof  for  the  rain-drops  to 
roll  off. 

Now,  see!  a  number  of  the  birds  fly  down  to  the 
bamboo-palms  by  the  spring.  They  alight  on  a  leaf. 
The  leaves  are  from  two  to  three  feet  long,  narrow^ 
and  lance-shaped.  You  can  tear  them  in  long  narrow 
strips.  The  bird  seized  a  leaf  on  its  edge  with  its  bill, 
bit  it,  and,  holding  the  bitten  end  in  its  mouth,  started 
to  fly.  A  string  two  feet  long  is  thus  stripped  off.  See! 
they  are  all  flying  up  to  the  tree-top,  with  the  strings 
of  palms  streaming  behind  them.  They  do  the  same 
way  with  the  leaves  of  the  plantain.  These  strings  are 
twisted,  and  tied,  and  woven,  and  plaited,  and  worked 
together  by  their  bills  and  feet,  into  a  smooth,  close, 
hollow,  pear-shaped  nest.     A  beautiful,  warm,  dry  nest! 


14  CORISCO    DAYS. 

A  good  example  do  they  set  us,  to  be  diligent!  If  a 
storm  blows  their  houses  down,  they  set  to  work  to  build 
others.  Let  us  too  work,  to-day!  These  birds  were 
always  making  nests  for  new  families  of  young  ones, 
and  they  would  have  become  very  numerous  if  they  had 
had  no  enemies.  One  day  I  saw  a  sea-eagle  robbing 
their  nests.  The  great  hungry  fellow  caused  the  small 
branch  to  bend  under  him,  but  he  stepped  very  uncon- 
cernedly from  nest  to  nest,  thrusting  in  his  bill  to  get 
the  eggs.  The  frightened  birds  flew  about  him  pro- 
testing; but  they  could  neither  harm  him,  nor  defend 
their  homes.  Also,  iguanas  and  snakes  climbed  the  tree 
to  rob  the  nests.  Yet  the  birds  seemed  very  happy. 
They  got  plenty  of  crumbs  and  scraps  from  the  school- 
girls' eating-room  which  was  near.  We  could  always 
see  a  flock  eating  there.  We  called  them  "Social"  birds, 
but  their  name  in  the  books  is  "Weaver"  birds.  How- 
ever, they  are  social,  so  many  of  them  living  on  the 
same  tree.  Yet,  for  all  their  being  so  many,  I  did  not 
often  see  that  they  quarrelled.  I  think  that  even  the 
school-children,  who  sometimes  got  angry  and  fought 
each  other,  would  have  said  it  was  shameful  for  birds 
to  quarrel.  Yet,  birds  haven't  got  souls,  and  children 
have. 

Now  let  us  turn  of¥  across  the  garden,  and  down  a 
path  toward  the  sea. 

The  Manji  Tree. 

But,  stop,  look  back  at  this  great  tree!  Turn  aside 
from  the  paths  to  examine  it.  Three  men  standing  at 
its  foot  would  not  be  able  to  make  their  joined  arms 


CORISCO    DAYS.  1 5 

reach  around  it.  It  was  nearly  two  hundred  feet  high, 
and  it  looked  very  bare,  with  no  branches  except  in  a 
bunch  near  the  top.  The  name  of  that  kind  of  tree  is 
Manji,  the  native  name  of  the  island.  It  was  only  three 
or  four  hundred  feet  from  the  dwelling-house,  and  acted 
as  a  lightning-rod.  In  the  months  of  February  and 
March  there  were  terrible  thunder  and  lightning,  by 
which  the  grounds  and  house  shook,  and  this  tall  tree 
w^as  sometimes  struck.  Its  gigantic  form,  with  its  limbs 
opened  out  like  arms,  guarded  the  dwelling.  Some  of 
the  limbs  were  dead;  and,  in  some  places  the  bark  was 
ripped  oflf  where  the  lightning  had  run  down  it. 

May  not  those  wounded  limbs  remind  us  of  Christ? 
He  spread  out  His  arms  to  save  us  from  the  lightnings 
of  His  Father's  wrath,  and  His  hands  and  side  and  head 
were  wounded  for  us.  "He  was  wounded  for  our  trans- 
gressions.    He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities." 

That  tall  Manji  tree  was  also  a  landmark.  For,  out 
at  sea,  its  top  could  be  observed;  and.  as  the  land  was 
neared,  its  form  rose  higher  and  higher,  until  the  other 
trees  seemed  like  bushes  beneath  it.  Captains  of  sailing 
vessels  knew  it.  When  they  came  to  bring  new  mem- 
bers of  the  Mission,  or  boxes  and  barrels  of  food  and 
clothing,  and  they  wished  to  cast  anchor  near  the  island 
in  a  safe  place,  they  looked  carefully  toward  the  Manji 
tree.  There  are  many  reefs  of  rocks  that  run  far  out 
from  shore,  where  there  is  not  much  depth  of  water, 
and  on  which  a  ship  might  strike.  Even  where  there 
is  deep  water,  the  bottom  in  many  places  is  covered 
with  rocks.  Such  spots  are  not  good  on  which  to 
drop  an  anchor;  it  may  become  so  fastened  among  the 


l6  CORISCO    DAYS. 

rocks  as  that  it  cannot  be  drawn  up  again.  But  a 
well-known  path  of  the  sea,  marked  by  some  little 
islets  and  this  tree,  showed  the  captain  his  safe  an- 
chorage. 

Sometimes  the  Manji  was  almost  without  leaves. 
There  is  under  the  Equator  no  season  like  winter,  taking 
from  all  trees  all  their  leaves.  But,  there,  each  tree, 
or  even  certain  limbs  of  a  tree,  has  each  its  own  season. 
This  tall  landmark  cast  its  leaves  once  a  year.  But  they 
did  not  all  fall  at  once.  Beginning  on  one  side,  the 
new  leaves  were  out  again  before  all  had  fallen  from  the 
other  side. 

Now  we  leave  the  tree,  and,  getting  into  the  path  again, 
will  go  past  the  Goat  Enclosure,  and  follow  the  path 
down  to  the  sea.  Here  are  plenty  of  things  at  which 
to  look! 

The  Caves. 

We  may  stop  among  the  sea-weed,  and  pick  out  the 
red  stems  or  green  leaves  and  filaments,  and  berries 
that  look  like  fruit;  or,  we  may  watch  the  funny  little 
fish  and  crabs;  or,  we  may  search  under  the  reefs  for 
handsome  shells.  There  are  no  fine  breakers  rolling 
in  just  now,  so  we  will  take  advantage  of  the  low  tide, 
and  go  to  the  Caves.  These  are  they  which  are  causing 
all  that  loud  roaring.  They  are  farther  on,  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  ahead.  We  must  go  around  several  rocky 
points.  Leaving  the  fish  and  shells  behind,  we  soon 
have  come  to  the  Caves.  When  the  tide  was  high,  there 
was  no  possible  path  here;  for,  the  water  would  then 


CORISCO    DAYS.  1/ 

(lash  against  the  bold  front  of  the  rocks.  These  rocks 
lie  in  strata  almost  parallel  with  the  level  of  the  sea. 
The  waves  dashing  against  them  day  after  day,  year 
after  year,  and  generation  after  generation,  have  entirely 
worn  away  the  lower  layers,  and  worked  back  some 
thirty  feet  under  the  upper  layers.  The  roof  of  the 
mouth  of  the  largest  Cave  is  high  above  our  heads. 
We  enter,  and  go  back  to  the  far  corner  where  we  have 
to  stoop  down.  Here  the  roof  is  dripping  and  the  sandy 
floor  is  wet.  Some  small  waves  are  rolling  toward  us 
on  the  beach.  They  make  an  angry  ripping  noise  as 
they  tear  along  the  edges  of  the  reef,  and  roll  up  to  the 
Cave's  mouth.  But  their  force  is  spent,  and  they  do  not 
reach  us.  What  a  strange  place!  Above  our  heads  the 
point  of  land  is  high  and  rocky,  covered  with  trees  and 
brushwood.  It  was  called  Ugoni  Point.  The  super- 
stitious natives  said  that  spirits  of  the  dead,  and  evil 
spirits  like  devils  lived  on  such  high  localities  as  Ugoni, 
and  in  these  very  caves.  They  thought  that  the  strange 
sounds  heard  when  the  high  tide  came  roaring  into 
these  recesses  were  not  all  caused  by  the  sea.  It  was 
believed  that  the  myondi  (spirits)  were  also  talking. 
So,  the  people  were  afraid,  and  made  offerings  to  the 
evil  spirits,  and  wore  charms  in  order  that  they  might 
not  be  hurt. 

But  there  were  indeed  very  loud  and  strange  noises 
in  these  caves,  at  times.  They  were  heard  mostly  at 
night.  When  everything  else  was  still,  their  sounds 
appeared  louder  than  in  the  daytime.  You  could  lie 
in  your  bed,  and  hear  a  rumbling  noise  growing  louder 
and  louder;  then,  a  report  like  a  distant  cannon;  and 


1 8  CORISCO    DAYS. 

then  a  whistling  rushing  note  that  slowly  died,  seem- 
ingly receding  far  and  farther  away.  It  often  kept  me 
awake,  the  while  that  1  wanted  to  go  to  sleep.  I,  too, 
would  have  been  afraid,  had  I  not  known  that  it  was 
caused  by  some  great  wave  roaring  in  from  sea  over  the 
reef,  striking  the  Cave's  mouth,  filling  it,  and  com- 
pressing the  air  in  its  recesses  under  the  rocks,  which 
then  made  those  whistling  notes  as  it  rushed  out  with 
the  receding  wave.  So,  when  those  noises  kept  me 
awake,  I  found  even  a  pleasure  in  analyzing  them,  as 
I  listened  to  the  thundering  waves. 

Now  leave  these  dripping  rocks  and  wet  sands,  and 
let  us  continue  our  walk  for  two  miles  farther  along  the 
beach,  southward. 

'  A  "Medicine"  House. 

We  will  pass  in  sight  of  several  little  isles;  for,  Corisco 
is  not  the  only  island  in  this  Bay.  There  is  Leva,  to 
the  west.  Farther  on,  toward  the  south,  is  a  view  of 
Mbanye.  And  there,  opposite  Haka  Point,  and  south- 
eastward, is  a  sandy  shoal  with  only  a  few  low  bushes 
on  it.  There  the  gulls  lay  their  eggs.  No  persons  lived 
there.  You  exclaim,  "But!  there  is  a  little  house;  what 
is  it  for?"  Why,  that  was  a  piece  of  heathenism.  It  was 
a  "Medicine-house;"  and  the  object  of  the  "medicine" 
it  contained  was  to  increase  the  natives'  trade.  It  was 
but  a  little  hut,  too  small  for  any  one  to  live  in;  but  in  it 
were  a  great  many  "charms,"  buried  in  the  ground  or 
hung  on  the  walls.  These  "charms"  were  called  "fet- 
ishes;" they  were  what  the  people  put  in  the  place  of 


CORISCO    DAYS.  1 9 

God.  They  believed  there  is  a  God,  but  they  did  not 
trust  in  or  fear  him.  They  feared  the  spirits  of  the 
dead,  and  trusted  in  those  fetishes.  All  their  medicines 
for  the  sick  were  fetishes,  for  they  said  that  spirits  had 
made  the  patient  sick.  So  you  see,  a  medicine-house  is 
a  fetish-house.  The  special  object  of  the  "bwanga'" 
(medicine)  in  that  hut  off  on  the  little  isle  was  to  please 
the  spirits  so  that  they  would  be  favorable  to  the  builder 
and  cause  the  ships  of  white  men  to  come  to  the  Bay, 
so  that  he  might  have  "luck"  in  trade. 

The  natives  went  out  into  the  forests  on  the  mainland 
and  gathered  the  juices  of  the  india'-rubber  vines,  or 
shot  elephants  for  their  ivory.  This  rubber  and  ivory 
they  sold  to  white  men's  ships  for  calico-prints,  guns, 
tobacco,  rum  and  very  many  other  things.  Now,  per- 
haps, the  man  who  built  that  hut  was  a  great  thief, 
and  the  captains  of  ships  that  were  already  there  would 
not  trust  him  with  any  of  their  goods,  for  fear  he  would 
not  pay  them  back  with  the  ivory  or  rubber.  So,  he 
hoped  that  the  spirits  would  bring  some  new  ship  whose 
captain  did  not  know  him,  and  who  would  lend  him 
all  the  trade-things  he  wanted.  This  he  called  a  "good 
trade."  That  was  all  he  cared  for.  He  looked  at  the 
dirty  charm  he  had  tied  about  his  neck,  or  hung  up  in 
his  dwelling,  or  buried  in  his  trade  hut;  and  he  was  sure 
the  next  ship  that  sailed  in  sight  of  that  little  isle  with 
its  little  hut,  would  turn  in  and  anchor  there,  for  him 
to  get  some  goods. 

We  have  gone  on  our  walk  far  enough;  let  us  turn 
back.  You  will  be  sufficiently  tired  before  we  have 
returned  over  the  track  of  our  more  than  two  miles. 


20  CORISCO    DAYS, 


Horse  Charley. 


There  are  no  cars  onto  which  to  jump;  no  wagon  to 
pick  us  up  in  our  way.  We  must  travel  on  our  feet. 
The  tide  is  coming  up.  We  cannot  now  get  around 
Ugoni  Point,  but,  leaving  the  beach,  will  follow  a  path 
through  the  forest,  or,  as  we  called  it  there,  "the  bush." 
In  visiting  the  other  Stations,  we  rode  sometimes  in  a 
hammock,  that  was  made  of  a  strong  piece  of  canvas 
tied  at  its  ends  to  a  pole;  in  it  we  lay  suspended  as  in  a 
cradle,  and  were  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  two  men, 
one  at  each  end  of  the  pole.  Foreigners  are  apt  to 
become  very  weak  in  warm  countries,  and  can  not  walk 
long  distances.  There,  on  Corisco,  we  had  a  sturdy 
white  and  gray  horse  on  which  to  ride  from  one  station 
to  another. 

Perhaps  you  would  like  to  ride  him?  You  may  do  so, 
if  you  can  catch  him  when  we  get  back  to  the  house. 
Try  to.  Here  he  is!  He  is  not  large;  is  of  pony  size; 
he  comes  ambling  toward  us,  for,  he  is  very  affectionate 
and  playful.  But,  put  out  your  hand  to  catch  him; 
and  if  you  have  a  halter  in  your  hand,  back  are  laid  his 
ears,  up  goes  his  head,  and  he's  off!  Suppose  you  do 
catch  him,  can  you  make  him  mind  you?  If  he  wanted 
to  run  along  the  smooth,  hard  beach,  he  would  have  his 
run  out,  for  all  we  might  tug  at  the  bridle-reins.  If 
we  were  in  a  hurry,  and  he  wanted  to  walk,  he  would 
look  around  at  us  with  his  funny  eyes,  as  if  to  say, 
"Your  switch  is  too  small.  I  want  to  walk;  and  I  will 
walk."  So,  he  stopped  to  eat  some  sweet  long  grass, 
and   then   trotted   on   to   another   clump,   and   cropped 


CORISCO    DAYS.  21 

a  few   mouthfuls   there;   and   then   trotted   on   to   stop 
again. 

Take  care,  too,  that  he  doesn't  turn  his  head  around 
and  try  to  snap  at  your  toes!  For,  he  Hked  to  play, 
and  his  horse-play  was  rude.  If  we  were  walking,  and 
passed  near  him,  he  would  amble  up  to  us,  get  behind 
us,  and  try,  like  a  playful  dog,  to  snap  at  our  back  or 
arm.  Rebuke  him  by  pulling  his  ear  or  nose,  or  by 
slapping  his  face;  and  he  jumped  away.  As  soon  as 
ever  our  back  was  turned,  he  was  after  us  again!  He 
did  not  mean  any  harm.  That's  what  people  say  some- 
times when  they  do  what  is  wrong,  "We  didn't  mean  any 
harm;  we  were  only  playing."  Yes!  but  they  did  harm, 
for  all  that  they  didn't  mean  it.  The  harm  was  done 
whether  they  meant  it  or  not.  "Avoid  even  the  appear- 
ance of  evil.''  Horse  Charley  was  very  much  feared  by 
the  natives.  He  knew  and  enjoyed  this.  If  he  saw  a 
company  of  children,  he  started  after  them  with  out- 
stretched neck.  They  screamed  and  hid  behind  bushes 
and  houses;  and  he  dashed  on  from  one  village  to 
another  through  the  narrow  streets,  men,  women, 
children,  chickens,  ducks,  goats,  dogs,  and  all  flying 
before  him!  Often  little  babies  were  lying  in  the  sand 
in  the  street,  but  Charley  was  careful  to  jump  over  them. 
Though  he  chased  people  so  often,  he  never  hurt  any 
one;  though  he  snapped,  he  never  bit  hard.  He  was 
a  useful  horse,  and  often  carried  tired  mission-workers. 
He  was  the  Mission's  horse,  and  a  missionary  horse. 
"A  missionary  horse?"  you  say.  Yes!  it  is  not  only 
angels  and  men  who  are  to  serve  God,  but  "let  everything 
that  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord."     I  think  that  Charley 


22  CORISCO    DAYS. 

showed  God's  power  in  his  licing  the  active,  strong, 
and  interested  creature  that  God  made  him;  and  he 
helped  to  show  forth  God's  praise  by  helping  those  who 
were  trying  to  do  so.  He  was  helping  (without  know- 
ing it)  to  bring  on  that  time  when  all  things  shall  be 
consecrated  to  God's  worship  and  service;  when  "Holi- 
ness" shall  be  written  on  the  bells  of  the  horses,  when 
even  such  a  thing  as  the  harness  of  a  beast  of  burden 
shall  contribute  to  God's  glory.  Then  shall  come  that 
happy  time  when  "the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the 
kid,  and  the  calf  and  the  young  lion  and  fatling  together, 
and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them!" 

3.  The  Bay  and  its  Islands. 

Let  us  sail  around  into  the  Bay.  Two  broad  rivers, 
draining  the  adjacent  mainland,  pour  into  Corisco  Bay; 
one,  the  Muni,  entering  at  the  northeastern  side  of  it. 
To  the  other,  the  Munda,  at  the  southeast  side,  we  will 
come  in  our  journey  to-day. 

Starting  from  Evangasimba  beach  and  rounding  the 
point  on  the  south,  called  Ugoni,  we  reach  the  islet 
Leva,  about  a  mile  to  the  south  and  west.  When  the 
tide  is  low,  its  sand-banks  are  laid  bare  and  dry,  where 
birds  and  man  find  a  rich  harvest  of  shell-fish.  Great 
quantities  of  a  conch,  called  konongo,  are  gathered  there. 
If  you  had  time  to  attend  to  natural  curiosities,  you 
would  find  on  the  Corisco  reefs  and  in  the  shallows 
near  and  in  the  low  water  about  the  Leva  banks,  an 
endless  variety  of  shell  and  weed.  Many  of  them  no 
doubt,  are  unknown  to  books  and  scientific  men. 


CORISCO    DAYS.  23 

The  islet  is  uninhabited.  Its  sides  are  steep;  about 
twenty  feet  above  the  sea.  Its  top  is  flat,  of  an  area  less 
than  two  acres,  and  covered  with  trees  and  bushes. 
It  has  no  water  in  the  Dry  Season.  Though  so  small, 
it  was  very  much  resorted  to  by  natives  gathering  fish; 
and  the  missionaries  frequently  took  their  scholars  a 
day's  excursion  there,  "A  day  at  Leva"  was  to  our 
pupils  what  a  Christmas  holiday  is  in  America.  We 
took  cassava-bread  for  them,  and  sandwiches  for  our- 
selves; a  fire  was  built;  the  shell-fish  for  which  the 
children  dove,  were  cooked  on  the  coals,  and  we  all 
enjoyed  the  day.  If  the  sun  had  well  dried  the  sands, 
we  sometimes  ate  in  a  cave  called  Ikenga-ja-Leva  (Leva's 
Reception  Hall).  But  generally  we  sat  above  on  the 
islet  under  some  spreading  tree. 

Let  us  sail  or  row  on  now!  The  water  over  which 
we  move  is  full  of  fish;  very  many  varieties  of  big  and 
little,  caught  by  net  and  spear  and  hook.  On  farther, 
with  the  boat's  prow  turned  toward  Cape  Esterias;  five 
miles  beyond  the  southern  point  of  Corisco  is  Mbanye 
island.  It  is  almost  two  miles  in  circumference.  Only 
a  stone's  throw  from  its  western  side  is  a  gem  of  an 
islet,  and  farther  to  sea  is  a  bare  sand-bank.  The  island 
was  inhabited  by  a  large  number  of  rats,  so  bold  that 
they  ran  about  the  beach  in  the  presence  of  visitors.  Na- 
tives did  not  kill  them,  saying  that  bad  winds  would 
overtake  any  one  who  so  did.  People  went  there  and 
stayed  for  a  week  at  a  time,  taking  with  them  thatch 
with  which  to  make  temporary  houses  (called  maka), 
and  spent  the  time  in  spearing  large  fish.  Turtles  were 
caught  there;  and  occasionally  a  hairless  seal  from  the 


24  CORISCO    DAYS. 

adjacent  Munda,  (a  manatus,  the  dugong)  whose  flesh  is, 
to  me,  tlie  most  delicious  of  meats. 

Looking  in  a  southeast  direction  from  Mbanye,  is 
seen  the  wide  mouth  of  the  Munda  river.  It  is  broad, 
but  not  very  long.  On  its  south  side  the  land  bends  out 
westward  to  Cape  Esterias,  where  there  is  an  outstation 
of  the  French  Roman  Catholic  mission  of  Gaboon.  On 
the  north  bank  is  the  country  of  the  Mbiko  tribe,  occu- 
pying the  eastern  side  of  the  bay. 

At  a  town,  Bonjumba,  in  that  country,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  Rev.  Wm.  Clemens  once  redeemed  a  little 
girl  who  was  about  to  be  put  to  death  on  a  charge  of 
witchcraft.  He  named  the  child  "Maria"  for  his  sister-in- 
law,  Mrs,  Walter  H,  Clark.  Maria  grew  up  a  useful  ma- 
tronly woman.  (Under  a  different  name  she  appears  in 
one  of  the  chapters  of  my  "Mawedo."*)  The  death  from 
which  she  was  rescued  is  common.  All  African  tribes 
believe  in  witches. 

Returning  from  Mbanye  to  Corisco,  we  journey 
rapidly  with  the  sea-breeze.  Soon  is  seen  before  us  a 
bank  called  Nenge-Megege  (Gull  Island).  It  is  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Corisco,  near  the  south  point.  Flocks 
of  gulls  are  hovering  over  the  glistening  white  sand,  or 
darting  out  over  the  water  to  some  fish  school.  If  we 
went  to  it,  we  would  be  in  about  the  very  middle  of  the 
bay.  Off,  on  our  right,  (east)  hand,  would  be  Mbiko; 
farther  to  the  northeast,  the  trade  island  Elobi.  A 
beautiful  journey  it  is.  You  look  from  the  boat,  the 
islands   and   mainland   encircling  as   a   green   and   blue 


American  Tract  Society  1881. 


CORISCO    DAYS.  25 

wreath.     But  that  island  was  then  lawless  of  God  and 
man.     How  often  I  prayed  that  that  people  might  say. 
"The  Isles  for  Thee  are  waiting." 

4.  Elobi  Island  and  Adjacent  Parts. 

When  we  were  sailing  in  the  Bay,  we  saw  to  the 
northeast  the  Elobi  Islands.  There  are  three:  Big  Elobi, 
Little  Elobi,  and  Mbe  Elobi.  Little  Elobi  is  slightly 
to  the  north  and  east  of  the  other  two,  so  that  as  you 
approach  from  Corisco,  the  larger  one  overlaps  the 
others  and  you  seem  to  see  but  one  island. 

On  large  Elobi  the  Mission  had  an  outstation  called 
"McQueen."  occupied  by  a  native  licentiate,  who  after- 
ward became  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Ibia.  At  present,  the 
island  population  has  largely  died  out. 

Small  Elobi  is  of  only  a  few  acres  area,  with  scarcely 
any  native  residents.  It  was,  and  still  is.  occupied  by 
the  Spanish  as  a  government-post;  and  by  several  other 
Europeans  who  have  anchored  ships  and  boats,  and  on 
shore  have  large  buildings  called  "factories"  for  trading 
in  ivory,  rubber,  and  red-wood  and  other  native  lumber. 
These  men  had  cloth,  knives,  and  all  other  kinds  of 
goods,  with  great  cjuantities  of  rum  and  gin  in  their 
stores.  These  they  lent,  on  "trust,"  out  to  the  natives 
in  parcels  of  from  $5  to  $100.  The  Benga  tribe,  occu- 
pying the  sea-coast,  kept  a  monopoly  of  the  "Trade," 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  tribes  lying  back  of  them  in  the 
interior.  Any  coast-man  who  received  in  trust,  say.  ten 
dollars,  retained  about  two  dollars  as  his  "share"  of 
profit,  handed  the  remaining  eight  to  some  man  of  the 


26  CORISCO    DAYS. 

tribe  just  next  behind  the  coast,  e.  g.  Mbiko,  who 
retained,  say,  two  dollars  as  his  share,  and  passed  the 
six  left  to  the  next  tribe,  the  Fang,  who  collected  the 
rubber  or  wood,  carried  it  to  the  Mbiko,  the  latter  to 
the  Benga  coast-men,  who  gave  it  to  the  white  trader. 
The  white  trader  knew  that  four  dollars  had  not  come 
back;  but  his  gain  was  so  large  on  the  native  articles 
when  imported  into  Europe,  that  it  covered  losses  by 
such  dishonesty.  This  "Trust"  or  Commission  system 
was  bad;  it  caused  all  the  people  to  be  worse  thieves 
than  they  naturally  were  as  heathens.  That  the  native 
stole  was  the  traders'  fault,  who  yet  were  the  loudest  to 
complain  of  the  people  for  badness. 

Another  source  of  evil  in  the  Elobi  trade  was,  that, 
in  every  parcel  of  "trust"  given  out,  the  trader  (at  that 
time)  compelled  the  native  to  take  a  certain  proportion 
of  rum;  because,  on  its  sale  most  gain  was  made.  We 
often  wrote  at  length  on  this  secular  point  to  show  to 
friends  in  the  United  States  a  cause  of  discouragement 
in  the  African-coast  missions.  Temptation  was  thrown 
in  the  way  of  native  Christians,  and  many  were  made 
drunkards.  Most  of  the  traders  were  members  of  the 
Established  Churches  of  England,  Scotland  or  Conti- 
nental Europe;  but  many  threw  away  their  religion, 
disregarded  the  Sabbath,  and  lived  as  polygamists. 
Some  of  their  merchant  employers  in  Christendom  have 
been  church  office-holders.  It  was  a  shame  for  Christi- 
anity!    A  crime  against  the  heathen! 

These  islands  face  east  to  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Muni,  or  Rio  D'Angra,  miscalled  by  sailors  "River 
Danger."     It  has  many  branches  inland;  on  two  of  them 


CORISCO    DAYS.  2^ 

our  first  Scripture-readers  or  evangelists  were  located; 
but  tribal  quarrels  compelled  their  removal  to  other 
places.  Several  years  before.  Rev.  Messrs.  Clemens  and 
Mackey  had  gone  to  almost  the  source  of  the  Muni, 
finding  beautiful  waterfalls  in  its  course,  and  very  cool 
weather  at  its  head  on  the  ridges  of  the  Sierra  del 
Crystal. 

On  the  south  bank  of  the  river,  by  its  mouth,  at  the 
town  Ukaka,  the  Mission  had  a  Scripture-reader  located; 
but  he  fell  into  rum-trading.  He  was  suspended.  The 
offense  was  repeated.  He  was  dismissed;  later,  he  went 
so  far  in  native  wickedness  as  to  be  excommunicated 
from  the  church. 

The  name  Ukaka  has  disappeared.  It  was  originally 
given  to  that  village  because  of  an  enormous  "log" 
which,  floating  down  the  river,  had  lodged  there.  Later, 
a  white  man  planted  a  cacao  garden  there;  his  trader 
associates  spoke  of  it  as  the  Cocao  place.  In  hasty 
pronunciation  they  called  Ukaka,  "Coco."  A  trading- 
house  now  stands  there.  The  bales  and  boxes  brought 
there  by  steamers  from  England  are  labeled  "Coco"- 
Beach,  the  foreigners  thinking  that  the  name  was  derived 
from  the  plantation  of  the  chocolate  trees. 

In  the  arc  of  the  Bay  from  the  north  bank  of  the 
river,  we  meet,  for  the  first  time,  with  another  tribe, 
the  Balengi.  Skirting  on  farther  westward  toward  Cape 
St.  John,  we  come  to  Mbangwe,  the  former  home  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Ibia,  at  Hondo.  There  he  tried  to  induce  the 
people  to  cultivate  the  ground  industriously,  to  learn 
mechanic  arts,  to  practice  trade  legitimately,  i.  e.,  to  cut 
their  red-wood,  carry  it  to  the  "factory,"  and  receive  in 


28  CORISCO    DAYS. 

useful  articles  (to  the  exclusion  of  rum)  their  pay,  after 
having  thus  earned  it.  He  hoped  in  this  way  to  open  for 
his  tribe  a  healthful  path  to  earthly  prosperity,  while 
at  the  same  time  he  was  teaching  and  preaching  to  them. 
But  his  efforts  failed.  The  Mission  at  that  time,  1860- 
1870,  with  strange  unwisdom,  discouraged  all  attempts 
at  the  industrial  side  of  evangelistic  work. 

5.    AjE   OUTSTATION. 

The  part  of  the  mainland  that  at  that  time  yielded  to 
the  Mission  most  of  fruit  for  labor  spent,  where  already 
were  several  outstations,  and  where  we  looked  expect- 
ingly  for  new  Stations  for  white  missionaries,  was  the 
land  north  of  Cape  St,  John. 

Leaving  Corisco  Bay,  sailing  around  Cape  St.  John, 
and  passing  a  few  Benga  villages,  we  meet  again  with 
Balengi.  A  little  farther  northward,  we  come  to  a  por- 
tion of  the  Bapuku  tribe.  Among  them,  a  small  river, 
Aje,  empties  into  the  sea,  thirty-two  miles  from  Corisco. 
At  its  mouth  were  a  mmiber  of  villages,  the  people 
seemingly  were  desirous  of  the  gospel,  two  of  our  young 
men  were  sent  there,  and  a  bamboo  nouse  was  built  as 
an  outstation.  One  of  them  subsequently  became  the 
late  Rev.  Etiyani.  Each  of  them  married  former  pupils 
of  our  girls'  school.  The  stream  is  not  wide,  but  it  is 
very  attractive,  winding  from  a  long  distance  inland, 
with  swift  current  flowing  beneath  the  wide-covering 
branches  of  trees  leaning  toward  each  other  from  either 
side. 

Aje  was  a  pleasant  place  to  visit.  When  the  mission 
first  made  journeys  there,  there  were  no  white  men  or 


CORISCO    DAYS.  29 

trading-houses  near;  we  were  the  only  white  friends  the 
people  claimed.  Whenever  the  boat  visited  the  two 
Scripture-readers  located  there,  long  before  it  reached 
the  beach,  the  shore  would  be  lined  with  people  shouting 
welcome,  and  there  was  a  large  company  to  attend 
prayers  in  the  evening.  Doubtless,  part  of  this  show 
of  interest  was  in  hope  of  obtaining  earthly  gain.  But, 
some  of  it  was  surely  sincere;  for,  several  young  men 
became  inquirers,  the  children  attended  school,  a  wife 
of  the  principal  man  professed  conversion  and  publicly 
united  with  the  church,  and  even  he  himself  threw  away 
fetishes  he  had  trusted  in.  But  he  was  not  a  Christian; 
the  love  of  strong  drink  enslaved  him,  and  while  he  was 
under  its  influence  he  said  and  did  things  that  troubled 
the  native  Christians. 

The  people  in  that  region  were  not  as  well  acquainted 
with  missionaries  as  were  the  inhabitants  of  Corisco, 
and  they  made  strange  mistakes  as  to  our  motives  and 
objects.  They  were  acquainted  with  other  white  men, 
many  of  them  rough  sailors,  but  they  did  not  understand 
our  pacific  character.  Once,  as  I  was  sailing  rapidly 
under  a  strong  wind  past  that  part  of  the  coast,  a  few 
miles  south  of  Aje,  a  canoe  ran  out  from  shore,  as  canoes 
often  did,  to  ask  the  news  and  perhaps  sell  a  few 
fish.  The  two  men  in  the  canoe,  unskillfully  stood 
straight  across  our  path  instead  of  coming  alongside. 
I  was  lying  down  sick  in  the  boat,  and,  before  the  man 
at  the  helm  could  alter  his  course,  we  had  struck  the 
canoe  and  knocked  a  hole  in  its  side.  We  helped  the 
men  as  well  as  we  could,  and,  having  no  time  to  stop, 
passed  on  to  our  northward  journey;  nor  had  I  any  time 


30  CORISCO    DAYS. 

when  we  came  back,  to  see  the  people  ashore  and  ex- 
plain matters.  Some  weeks  afterwards,  word  come  to 
me  at  Corisco  that  the  Bapuku  people,  at  the  town  where 
lived  the  owner  of  the  canoe,  were  very  angry,  that  they 
believed  that  I  and  my  men  had  purposely  run  down 
the  canoe  out  of  hatred  to  them  and  their  tribe,  and  that 
they  intended  to  attack  the  boat  on  its  next  journey, 
and  demand  a  fine.  Such  outrages  and  revenges  were 
common  among  those  tribes;  but  I  was  exceedingly 
grieved  that  they  should  think  me  capable  of  them. 
At  the  next  journey  that  I  made  northward,  I  stopped 
on  my  way  particularly  to  see  those  people.  After  the 
usual  religious  services,  the  man  who  owned  the  canoe 
was  sent  for;  and,  when  he  had  finished  his  angry  state- 
ment of  grievances,  I  explained  the  facts  of  the  accident, 
and  told  them  of  a  missionary's  character  and  object  of 
his  life.  The  man  was  satisfied,  and  said  nothing  more 
about  assault  and  fine. 

Later  at  Aje,  a  house  was  built  on  the  beach  by  the 
villagers  for  foreign  trade,  and  much  liquor  was  sold 
there.  Surely  Satan  was  afraid  his  kingdom  would  be 
overcome.  That  rum-factory  was  a  great  stumbling- 
block  to  the  people,  many  fell  into  the  pit  of  drunken- 
ness. 

6.  Hanje  Out-station. 

Three  hours'  sail  with  a  good  wind  took  a  boat  from 
Aje  northward  around  a  very  long  Point  of  land  to 
Hanje.  If  you  walked,  following  the  beach,  the  distance 
would  be  much  longer,  for  the  shore  is  indented  with 
numerous  coves,  into  which  creeks  empty,  and  to  cross 


CORISCO    DAYS.  3I 

which  took  time  if  no  canoe  was  at  hand.  We  could 
amuse  ourselves,  however,  by  picking  up  colored  shells, 
mostly  bivalves,  and  by  observing,  on  the  sand,  tracks 
of  the  feet  of  elephants,  and  the  branches  of  trees  broken 
bv  them  in  their  browsing  on  the  twigs  and  leaves. 

Hanje  is  in  the  limits  of  the  Kombe  tribe.  It  was 
difficult  of  approach  wdien  the  tide  was  low;  for,  the 
shore  is  somewhat  rocky,  and  shelves  very  gradually 
over  a  long  stretch  of  reef,  so  that  the  boat  had  to  find 
its  anchorage  far  out.  The  rest  of  the  way  to  land  then 
had  to  be  made  by  canoes,  that  came  off  to  us  when 
the  people  recognized  our  boat.  The  canoe  finally  grated 
over  the  rocks  at  the  mouth  of  Hanje  Creek,  on  a  side 
of  which  was  built  a  mission-house.  That  was  the  first 
out-station  located  north  of  Corisco,  in  1861.  The  first 
occupant  was  a  man  named  Balevi,  who,  beginning  with 
great  zeal,  afterwards  fell  into  sin,  was  suspended,  and 
soon  after  died,  professedly  repenting.  Another, 
Njumba,  was  sent  to  the  vacant  place  immediately  after 
the  suspension,  and  remained  there  for  a  few  years. 
He  had  a  difficult  position  to  fill.  The  people  were  of 
a  violent,  excitable  character;  and,  at  the  very  first,  there 
was  opposition  to  him,  because  he  had  been  sent  to  super- 
sede Balevi  who  had  relatives  there.  But  faithful  atten- 
dance to  religious  duties  wore  away  hatred,  and  broke 
down  opposition.  He  remained  there  three  years  with 
varying  success,  sometimes  enjoying  the  friendship  of 
the  people  and  listened  to  with  attention.  At  other 
times,  he  was  subjected  to  insult,  and  even  to  anger. 
One  time,  Ukuku  (a  spirit  whom  the  people  feared,  and 
who,  in  the  darkness  of  night,  or  in  the  secrecy  of  a 


$2  CORISCO    DAYS. 

house  or  dense  bushes,  uttered  his  directions  by  the 
mouth  of  a  man  temporarily  appointed  and  representing 
Ukuku)  came  on  the  mission-premises  and  uttered  a 
"curse"  against  Njumba's  mother.  He  arose  from  bed, 
went  out,  and  told  Ukuku  to  go  away,  that  he  himself 
was  a  worshipper  of  God,  and  that  Ukuku  had  no  claim 
on  him.  The  followers  of  the  evil  spirit  were  angry, 
called  a  large  council,  bespoiled  Njumba  of  all  his  goods, 
and  even  threatened  his  life.  His  final  case  was  sad. 
Though  he  had  suffered  for  the  Gospel,  pride  led  him 
astray,  and  he  became  a  miserable  outcast. 

The  country  back  of  Hanje  is  of  forest,  and  a  plain 
covered  with  bushes,  but  has  no  hills  until  some  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles  inland.  The  people  kept  near  the  sea- 
shore and  did  not  go  inland  much,  except  to  make  their 
plantations  and  to  gather  rubber  in  the  forests.  The 
plantations  were  a  mile  or  so  from  the  villages,  and 
were  much  disturbed  by  elephants  coming  at  night  and 
eating  the  cassava  plants. 

I  made  a  journey  by  that  beach  northward,  on  one 
occasion.  Three  miles  from  Hanje  there  is  a  rapid  creek, 
Ndoti,  not  wide,  but  the  people  said  it  was  long,  and  that 
hippopotami  lived  in  it.  It  was  to  be  swum  if  no  canoe 
happened  at  hand;  and  sometimes  there  were  sharks. 
The  sun  set  while  on  my  way,  but,  the  tide  being  low, 
I  went  on  by  night.  The  women  were  out  at  various 
places  on  the  reefs  with  torches  (called  myanyo)  made  of 
dried  split  bamboo.  The  glare  and  reflection  of  the 
lights  along  the  arc  of  the  shore  of  the  coves  as  I  looked 
ahead  on  the  beach,  with  the  forest  as  background,  was 
picturesque.     By  9  P.  M.  I  came  to  a  certain  part  of 


CORISCO    DAYS.  33 

the  coast  called  Sipolu,  which  was  thickly  clotted  with 
villages  along  the  three  miles  of  its  exent  to  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Bonito.  There  were  six  or  eight  trading- 
houses  within  those  three  miles. 

A  part  of  my  journey  was  rather  lonely,  there  being 
no  people  on  a  portion  of  the  beach  skirted  by  a  long 
stretch  of  dense  "bush,"  such  as  is  used  for  native  burial- 
ground.  I  came  to  a  streamlet  crossing  the  beach,  too 
wide  for  me  to  jump  across.  Having  waded  over  it, 
I  sat  down  on  a  log  to  put  on  again  my  shoes  and  socks. 
While  so  doing,  a  deep  groan  issued  from  the  bushes 
but  a  few  feet  behind  me.  I  was  sure  it  was  not  a 
human  being;  for,  no  native  would  at  night  dare  to  be 
alone  there  so  near  to  graves.  The  sound  was  repeated 
while  I  was  hastening  on  my  shoes;  so  I  went  rapidly 
away,  not  running  at  first,  lest  the  animal  might  be 
excited,  by  my  precipitancy,  to  follow. 

When  I  imitated  the  sound  next  day  to  a  number  of 
natives,  some  were  alarmed  and  said  it  was  the  voice  of 
the  ghost  of  the  grave-yard.  Some  said  it  was  a  leop- 
ard's growl.  Others,  more  reasonably,  said  it  was  the 
grunt  of  a  wild  hog.  Wild  animals  do  thus  prowl  at 
night,  and  even  come  near  the  native  huts. 

7.  Benita  Station. 

Benita  was  a  word  that,  for  the  Corisco  Mission,  had 
so  much  of  hope  and  longing,  a  dark  line  of  sadness, 
and  yet  expectations  of  future  joy.  In  our  journeys 
north  we  had  often  passed  the  mouth  of  the  river  Eyo 
(San  Bonito)  ten  miles  beyond  Hanje,  on  our  way  farther 


34  CORISCO    DAYS. 

on  to  Meduma,  our  most  distant  outstation,  in  the  Kombe, 
a  tribe,  at  that  time,  much  despised  by  both  the  Benga 
and  Mpongwe  tribes.  There  the  mother  of  a  Christian 
man,  Yume,  a  slave  on  Corisco,  had  been  found;  and, 
the  people  professing  to  desire  the  Gospel,  he,  having 
obtained  freedom,  was  sent.  The  people  listened  well 
to  his  exhortations,  and  some  even  learned  to  read 
better  than  their  teacher.  But  his  zeal  cooled.  Cold- 
ness and  carelessness  came  aver  the  people.  Finally 
he  fell  into  sin,  was  dismissed,  and  Meduma  was  aban- 
doned. 

A  short  time  before  that,  an  out-station,  Mbini,  had 
been  located  with  two  evangelists,  just  in  the  mouth  of 
the  river  on  its  south  side.  It  prospered  for  a  few 
months;  and  then  was  suddenly  broken  up  by  the  natives 
themselves,  even  before  a  mission-house  had  been  built, 
because  of  a  family  quarrel  arising  from  jealousy  in 
trade,  with  which  the  two  young  men  had  unwisely 
tampered. 

Those  two  locations,  Meduma  and  Mbini,  though  they 
had  not  been  intended  as  permanent,  we  hoped  would 
principally  be  useful  as  stepping-stones  into  the  interior. 
For  a  while,  we  were  disappointed.  Operations  even 
at  the  river's  mouth  were  suspended.  But  a  bright  day 
came  in  1864.  Rev.  George  Paull,  with  his  youthful 
energy,  was  added  to  our  little  company.  He  made  a 
"Kombe  journey,"  was  charmed  with  the  mainland  itin- 
erant work,  was  as  my  successor  given  its  superintend- 
ence, and  placed  a  Scripture-reader  at  Upwanjo  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  river's  mouth.  At  a  subsequent  jour- 
ney, on  which  I  accompanied  him,  the  apparent  openness 


CORISCO    DAYS.  35 

of  the  way  urged  us  to  ask  the  location  of  one  of  our 
number  on  Mbade,  a  beautiful  point  of  land  on  that 
north  bank.  The  Point  is  called  on  the  English  nautical 
chart,  "Heybern."  It  is  a  perfectly  level,  elevated 
prairie,  dotted  with  clusters  of  trees.  Back  of  it,  an  aver- 
age mile  from  the  sea,  is  the  native  forest,  where  existed 
large  numbers  of  monkeys,  elephants,  oxen,  and  even 
leopards  and  gorillas. 

In  January,  1865,  it  was  decided  to  occupy  that  ground. 
Mr.  Paull's  wish  was  gratified,  and  I  yielded  him  the 
preference  of  the  first  settlement  on  the  inviting  field. 
That  same  month  he  promptly  removed  from  Corisco, 
took  up  his  abode  at  the  native  town  Upwanjo,  near  the 
Point,  vigorously  set  to  work  preaching  and  teaching, 
and  commenced  building  a  permanent  dwelling.  How 
our  hearts  rejoiced  at  the  good  news  that  almost  every 
week  came  to  us  of  the  willingness  of  the  people  to 
assist;  of  the  evident  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God  on  their  hearts  by  Mr.  Paull's  pungent,  affectionate 
appeals!  How  we  longed  for  more  help  that  he  might 
have  an  associate  to  sustain  him,  and  that  we  might  at 
once  go  on  up  the  river  to  locate  another  station!  How 
delightful,  at  the  April  Communion  Conference,  to  hear 
reports  of  the  awakenings  among  the  people!  How 
pleasant  that  our  missionary  brother  was  succeeding  in 
making  a  little  home  for  himself,  the  building  of  the 
house  having  progressed  sufficiently  for  him  to  occupy 
a  part  of  it,  and  the  ladies  of  the  Corisco  house- 
holds having  given  up  their  best  servants  for  his 
aid.  Then  a  cloud  arose  on  the  horizon.  It  at  first 
seemed  small,  at  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Paull's  sickness; 


36  CORISCO    DAYS. 

but  it  overspread  our  mainland  sky  with  darkness  at 
his  death. 

When  the  sad  news  flew  back  from  Corisco  (where 
he  came  to  die)  to  his  Benita  people,  they  wept  and 
mourned  the  wailings  customarily  given  their  most  hon- 
ored and  greatest  chiefs  and  parents. 

It  was  my  lot  to  go  a  week  afterward  and  close  his 
premises,  and  gather  his  personal  effects.  The  people 
were  in  sorrow's  darkness.  The  inquirers  and  Christians 
seemed  stricken  with  dumb  astonishment  at  their  loss. 
They  followed  my  steps  as  if  expecting  help  in  some 
unlooked-for  way;  and,  for  the  hundredth  time,  asked, 
"Would  another  white  man  come?"  I  replied,  that  I 
hoped  so;  "When  would  he  come?"  I  could  not  tell. 
But,  though  we  called  Mr.  Paull's  death  a  "providential 
dispensation,"  we  learned  a  lesson  which  was  made  into 
a  Mission  rule,  i.  e.,  never  to  send  a  man,  especially  a 
new  one,  alone  to  open  a  new  Station.  The  good  rule 
was  not  always  kept.  Twice  it  was  subsequently  broken ; 
and,  in  both  instances,  with  the  same  fatal  result  as  in 
Mr.  Paull's  case. 

8.  Up  the  Bonito   River. 

Naturally  a  description  of  the  river  should  have  pre- 
ceded the  notice  of  the  Station  located  at  its  mouth. 
But  I  left  that  which  geographically  should  have  come 
first,  to  be  thus  last,  for  a  chronological  reason.  To 
the  upper  banks  of  that  river  it  was  that  we  looked  for 
future  Stations.  To  it,  the  energies  of  our  mission  were 
directed. 


CORISCO    DAYS.  37 

As  I  often  in  journeys  from  Corisco  sailed  past  the 
mouth  of  the  river  and  looked  up  the  vista  that  opened 
inward,  it  was  refreshing  to  gaze  at  the  ranges  of  hills 
and  mountains  that,  running  somewhat  parallel  with  the 
coast,  at  distances,  variously  estimated  as  twenty  or  thirty 
miles  inland,  rose  with  their  calm  blue  just  above  the 
harmonizing  green  of  the  nearer  forest  tops;  and  then, 
with  regular  gradation,  grew  from  blue  hills  to  white 
hazy  mountains  in  the  far  background.  A  charming 
perspective!  Well  named  was  the  Sierra  del  Crystal! 
But  the  eye  wearied  to  look  on  the  cloudiness  of  the 
distant  range;  a  lower  and  nearer  one  gave  it  rest.  I 
thought  of  the  blue  hills  of  Pennsylvania,  and  could 
almost  forget  the  then  ever-present  sea-sickness  of  my 
boat-journeys. 

Wonderful  stories  of  a  cataract  called  Yovi,  had  been 
often  told  us;  and  Rev.  Mr.  Clemens  had  once,  a  number 
of  years  before,  gone  up  the  river  about  17  miles  and 
been  shown  by  a  guide  (who  refused  to  take  him  farther) 
a  fall,  which  Mr.  Clemens  reported  to  us  as  rather  insig- 
nificant. As  far  as  is  known,  he  was  the  first  and  only 
white  man  who  had  entered  the  river  any  distance. 

In  the  month  of  July,  1863,  Rev.  J.  L.  Mackey  and  I 
determined  to  explore  the  ground  with  reference  to  future 
operations,  though  our  time  was  exceedingly  limited, 
only  a  day  being  left  (by  necessary  mission  arrange- 
ments) at  our  disposal  on  the  journey.  The  natives  said 
three  days  would  be  needed  to  go  up  to  the  Ivova  (falls) 
and  return.  Perhaps  that  time  would  be  consumed  by 
a  people  who  journeyed  only  by  fair  winds  and  not  by 


38  CORISCO    DAYS. 

oars,  to  whom  time  was  no  object,  and  who  abandoned 
until  to-morrow  that  which  would  require  diligence  if 
to  be  accomplished  to-day. 

The  native  name  of  Bonito  (called  by  traders  "Banita," 
and  by  the  chart  "Benoit")  is  Eyo.  Between  the  ex- 
tremest  points  of  the  gaping  mouth  by  the  sea  the 
distance  is  three  miles.  The  river  proper  is  probably  over 
a  mile  wide  where  the  beach  ended  in  mud  and  man- 
groves, and  where  our  boat,  in  which  I  had  coasted 
along  with  four  men,  stopped  to  take  in  Mr.  Mackey 
(who  had  been  holding  meetings  ashore)  and  a  guide. 

We  marked  the  hours,  so  as  to  judge  of  the  length  of 
the  journey.  It  was  10  A.  M.  with  a  tide  beginning  to 
run  up.  Aided  thus  by  tide  and  a  moderate  wind,  we 
went  comfortably  without  oars.  There  was  scarcely  any 
perceptible  bank.  Lining  the  broad  stream  were  man- 
groves, stilted  up  on  their  long  claw-like  roots  and 
props,  and  multiplying  themselves  infinitely  by  the 
twenty,  thirty,  forty  feet  long  shoots  that.  Banian-like, 
they  left  fall  perpendicularly  from  their  outer  branches. 
Such  a  wilderness  of  roots!  The  haunt  of  wild  hogs, 
elephants  and  snakes.  Among  the  trees  disported  mon- 
keys, but  they  did  not  permit  any  near  approach.  There 
were  strange  sounds  that  came  from  throats  of  new  birds, 
trumpetings  of  toucans,  screams  of  parrots,  whistles, 
calls,  etc.  After  a  while,  the  banks  rose,  grew  steeper 
as  we  proceeded,  and  became  dotted  with  villages  on 
each  side.  The  wind  became  fitful,  sometimes  altogether 
failing,  making  oars  necessary;  and  in  the  afternoon, 
beyond  the  tide,  where  the  mangroves  ceased  and  the 
pandanus  or  "screw-pine"  increased,  and  with  the  rapid 


CORISCO    DAYS.  39 

current  of  the  river  against  us,  vigorous  rowing  was 
necessary. 

The  foam  from  the  falls,  seen  all  along  the  upper 
stream,  became  thicker  as,  late  in  the  afternoon,  the 
roaring  cataract  saluted  our  ears.  It  was  exhilirating 
to  look  at  the  clearly  defined  ranges  ahead,  to  glide 
along  under  the  cool  afternoon  shadow  of  the  over- 
hanging trees,  and  dip  to  thirsty  lip  the  pure  water  of 
the  river.  I  may  say  I  had  not  been  fever-sick  (of 
any  special  account)  in  Africa;  but  then,  almost  for  the 
first  time,  I  felt  American  health.  When  the  stream 
narrowed  to  a  hundred  feet,  and  the  deep  current  too 
swift  to  stem,  the  boat  was  tied  ashore  at  precisely  5 
P.  M.,  and  we  walked  half  a  mile  over  an  ascending  path 
parallel  with  the  river,  which,  however,  was  hidden  by 
the  dense  bushes  lining  it.  Then  the  guide  pointed 
through  a  vista  showing  a  series  of  foaming,  broken, 
abrupt,  tumbling  rapids,  saying  that  those  were  what 
Mr.  Clemens  had  seen.  Another  half  mile's  walk,  still 
ascending,  brought  us  to  a  most  remarkable  basin,  some 
fifty  feet  in  diameter,  into  which,  from  a  height,  say,  of 
twelve  feet,  fell  a  portion  of  the  stream  reduced  to  thirty 
feet  in  width.  (Other  portions  flowed  around  little 
islands  after  the  manner  of  Niagara  and  Goat  Island.) 
I  noticed  facts  connected  with  the  river  and  that  whirl- 
pool-basin that  I  have  never  seen  recorded  of  other 
cataracts.  Out  of  another  corner  of  the  basin  went  the 
stream,  tumbling  over  the  rapids  with  probably  a  descent 
of  seventy  feet,  to  the  mile  distant  where  our  boat  was 
tied.  We  stayed  until  sunset,  when  the  guide,  with 
superstitious  fear,  hurried  us  away.     In  the  two  Rainy 


40  CORISCO    DAYS. 

Seasons,  the  amount  and  rapidity  of  the  water  over  the 
falls  would  be  immense,  and  some  of  the  strange  native 
stories  told  us  could  be  true.  Our  Scripture-readers 
said  that  the  region  of  the  falls  had  a  large  population. 
It  was  there  that  we  hoped  would  be  erected  the  next 
tower  on  our  Zion's  walls.  But  the  hope  was  never 
realized. 


CHAPTER  II. 
An  African  Village. 

SOME  of  the  native  villages  in  the  Gaboon  and 
Corisco  regions  were  built  in  the  midst  of  the 
dense  forest,  where  the  women,  who  do  most  of 
the  work,  clear  a  few  acres.  Huts  were  erected  where 
slaves  guarded  the  plantations  of  plantains  (a  fruit  which 
looks  like  a  very  large  banana  but  of  a  different  species) 
and  cassava  (the  tuber  from  which  tapioca  is  made).  But 
most  of  the  villages  were  placed  on  the  edge  of  the  forest 
near  the  ocean,  or  on  the  banks  of  the  many  rivers  that 
pour  into  it  the  mighty  rains  that  fall  there.  A  village 
(mboka)  might  have  from  live  to  fifty  houses,  according 
as  the  man  who  owned  it  was  poor  or  rich,  arranged 
along  the  two  sides  of  the  one  street  about  twenty  feet 
wide.  Each  hut,  about  sixteen  feet  long,  eight  feet  wide 
and  five  feet  high  under  the  eaves,  had  two  rooms.  They 
were  easy  to  build.  Stout  saplings  (mbingo)  were  thrust 
into  the  ground  upright; on  to  these  were  tied  horizontally 
slats  of  bamboo  palm  (mbanja),  and  over  them  were  tied 
wide  strips  of  bark  or  a  matting  of  palm-leaves  (ngonja). 
The  roof  was  thatched  with  the  same  leaves  neatly 
stitched  together.  A  hut  with  open  sides  would  be 
put  up  as  a  blacksmith  shop;  generally  it  was  located 
in  the  middle  of  the  street.  Sitting  there  might  be  seen 
a  man  who  was  either  blowing  the  native  bellows,  or 

(41) 


42  CORISCO    DAYS. 

stitching  together,  with  Httle  sticks  Hke  pins,  the  palm- 
leaves  for  thatch.  In  front  of  the  village  might  be  a 
pile  of  wood,  either  ebony  logs  (evila)  or  red  dyewood 
(ehiyo).  These  are  cut  by  men  in  the  forest  in  pieces 
three  or  four  feet  long,  and  carried  on  the  backs  of 
women  to.  the  village;  then  put  into  canoes  and  floated 
down  the  river  to  the  seaside,  where  are  white  men's 
trading-houses,  and  sold  for  tobacco,  plates  and  basins, 
knives  and  guns,  powder  and  beads,  calico  and  rum.  and 
a  great  variety  of  other  goods. 

In  the  rear  of  the  huts  were  "behu"  or  kitchen-gardens 
where  the  sweepings  are  thrown,  and  where  choice  plan- 
tains are  protected.  The  plantain  has  no  woody  struc- 
ture; it  is  far  softer  than  a  cabbage  stalk;  its  leaves  are 
a  beautiful  light  green,  are  six  or  eight  feet  long,  and 
sixteen  or  eighteen  inches  wide.  We  see  usually  only 
half  their  width,  for  they  fold  on  their  midrib  like  two 
leaves  of  a  book.  The  natives  call  a  book's  leaves 
mapepu,  from  these  two  parts  of  a  plant's  leaf.  The 
wind  tears  them  into  ribbons,  and  they  are  forever  flut- 
tering and  shaking  like  aspens. 

The  forest  scenes  are  very  beautiful;  the  majestic  trees 
are  tied  together  by  convolvuli  and  a  great  variety  of 
other  vines  running  all  over  them.  The  trees  and  vines 
both  have  flowers,  most  of  them  sweet-scented,  and  of 
strange  shapes,  but  mostly  reminding  one  of  pea-blos- 
soms and  honevsuckles  and  azaleas. 


CHAPTER  III. 
A  Nativ^e  African  Church. 

THE  first  church-building  on  Corisco  Island  was 
at  the  central  Station  Evangasimba.  Ascending 
the  somewhat  of  a  declivity  that  rises  from  the 
beach,  and  walking  a  few  hundred  feet  on  the  straight 
wide  path,  which  was  used  also  as  a  public  road,  you 
would  pass  the  Mission-house,  in  which  the  first  Pastor, 
Rev.  J.  L.  Mackey,  resided.  A  few  hundred  feet  farther 
on  from  his  house,  within  the  enclosure  fronted  by  the 
orange  trees  of  his  yard,  was  a  little  bamboo  house,  used 
once  as  a  dwelling  and  later  as  a  hospital.  A  few  yards 
beyond  this  was  the  church.  You  would  call  it  only  a 
long  low  building.  But  when  you  should  go  into  the 
native  village,  and  see  their  "long  low"  houses,  but  (for  all 
practical  purposes  in  their  stage  of  civilization)  suffi- 
ciently high,  you  would  agree  with  the  people  in  saying 
it  was  a  "ndabo  enene"  (a  great  house).  It  stood  back 
thirty  feet  from  the  path;  and,  on  each  side  of  the 
entrance  way  were  trees  and  bushes  and  long  grass. 
Bushes  would  persist  in  growing  notwithstanding  all 
efforts  at  cutting  them  down.  One  kind  of  coarse  grass 
twisted  itself  erect  two  fathoms  in  length;  and  of  the 
trees  there  were  a  variety  of  fruit-bearing.  Here  was  a 
cocoanut  palm,  there  a  guava,  on  one  side  an  orange, 
and  on  the  other  a  lime.     But,  those  trees  being  along 

(43) 


44  CORISCO    DAYS. 

the  public  path,  we  obtained  but  little  of  their  fruit. 
As  in  other  countries,  with  apple  trees,  the  mischievous 
boys  did  not  allow  the  fruit  to  ripen.  Even  the  guavas 
were  eaten  unripe.  Of  the  limes  we  obtained  a  few, 
for  lemonade.  The  gable  of  the  building  fronted  on  the 
path.  Its  exact  dimensions  were  fifty-one  feet  long, 
thirty-eight  feet  wide,  eighteen  feet  high  to  the  ridge 
of  the  roof,  which  sloped  down  at  the  sides  to  a  height 
of  nine  feet,  and  extending  live  or  six  feet  beyond  the 
walls,  shedded  the  rain  at  seven  feet  from  the  ground. 
Such  long  eaves,  and  such  comparatively  low  roofs  are 
necessary  in  a  country  where  in  certain  seasons  (e.  g. 
February-May)  there  come  tornado  gusts  and  dashing 
rains.  The  exterior  of  the  building  consisted  entirely 
of  bamboo.  Not  the  West  India  jointed  bamboo  (which 
is,  botanically,  a  grass)  but  the  so-called  "bamboo"-palm. 
The  same  material  as  used  by  the  natives  in  their  clay- 
floored  huts.  Foreigners,  in  using  the  bamboo,  elevated 
their  houses  above  the  damp  earth.  First,  were  set  cer- 
tain strong  posts  of  mbimo  (teak)  such  as  white  ants 
would  not  attack.  In  later  years,  there  have  been  used 
brick  or  stone  mason-work,  or  iron  pillars,  and  more 
recently  the  cheaper  and  more  easily  worked  concrete. 
These  posts  or  pillars  were  placed  apart,  from  eight  to 
twelve  feet,  and  any  convenient  height  above  the  ground, 
e.  g.  two  to  six  feet.  On  these  were  laid  heavy  beams 
of  hewn  logs,  which  were  the  real  foundation.  If  the 
superstructure  were  to  be  imported  boards,  their  erection 
actually  began  on  those  logs  or  sills.  If  the  super- 
structure, as  in  the  case  of  the  church,  was  to  be  bamboo, 
auger  holes,  a  foot  or  two  apart,  were  bored  in  these 


CORISCO    DAYS.  45 

beams,  and  into  them  were  stuck  upright  saplings 
(mbingo).  On  to  these,  several  inches  apart,  were  tied 
horizontal  strips  (mbanja)  of  the  split  fronds  of  the 
bamboo,  with  strings  of  a  split  rattan  (ulanga)  the 
calanuis-palm,  a  climbing  vine.  Over  these,  to  protect 
them  from  the  rain,  and  to  cover  the  wide  open  space 
between  the  mbanja,  were  tied,  like  enormous  shingles, 
matting  (ngonja)  of  the  bamboo  leaves  skillfully  stitched 
together.  This  is  the  mode  used  in  the  ordinary  native 
dwellings.  But,  the  church,  to  be  still  better,  had  mbanja 
strips  tied  also  over  the  ngonja  matting  both  inside 
and  outside  of  the  walls.  And  these  horizontal  strips, 
instead  of  being  several  inches  or  even  a  foot  apart, 
were  tied  close  together  so  as  to  touch  and  make  a  solid 
covering.  The  entrance  to  the  door  was  ascended  by  a 
few  steps.  They  made  no  attempt  at  ornament.  They 
were  plain,  substantial,  smoothly-hewn  logs,  resting  on 
small  piles.  The  door-way  was  wide;  the  doors'  only 
ornament  being  the  smoothness  of  their  surface,  from 
some  American  planing-mill,  they  being  of  imported 
pine  planks.  But,  above  the  door,  there  was  an  attempt 
at  ornament,  by  a  great  efifort  of  native  art  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  six-sided  window,  whose  shape  might  be 
described  as  a  parallelogram  with  a  triangle  at  each  end, 
latticed  with  neatly  split  bamboo.  It  ventilated  the  room, 
and  admitted  light,  the  other  window-spaces  having  no 
sashes,  only  shutters,  which  had  to  be  closed  during  a 
rain.  But  rain  could  not  enter  this  large  window- 
space,  the  roof  extending  far  over  the  gable. 

Inside,  there  was  some  attempt  at  art.     The  roof  was 
supported,  at  half  the  distance  of  its  descent  toward  the 


46  CORISCO   DAYS. 

eaves,  by  a  light  structure  of  planed  unpainted  American 
white-pine  scantling  that  rested  on  four  similar  upright 
beams,  two  on  each  side  of  the  aisle,  standing  in  the 
center  line  of  the  two  blocks  of  seats.  Though  light,  the 
structure  displayed  in  its  thin  outlines  a  firmness  that 
a  scientific  architect  might  have  admired.  There  was 
one  broad  aisle  extending  from  the  door  to  the  pulpit, 
and  narrower  ones,  on  each  side  of  the  house  next  to 
the  walls.  The  seats  were  not  separately  movable. 
Some  of  those  same  pine  scantlings  having  been  laid  on 
the  floor,  holes  were  bored  in  them,  into  which  to  insert 
the  legs  of  the  benches.  These  long  seats  were  made 
like  rustic  benches  in  any  civilized  country.  No  boards 
were  used;  but  long,  round,  smooth  young  trees  served 
as  the  frames,  and  the  ever-present  bamboo  made  a 
rough,  hard  bottom.  Nevertheless,  they  were  uniform 
in  shape,  were  straight,  and  had  backs,  and  arms  at 
their  ends.  There  were  also  three  short  ones  on  each 
side  of  the  julpit. 

That  Pulpit!  What  a  structure!  A  platform,  some- 
what wider  than  the  aisle,  was  ascended  by  two  steps. 
On  this  was  a  "Desk"  ascended  by  another  step;  and 
there  then  was  room  just  sufficient  for  the  minister 
and  a  large  marvelous  arm-chair,  made  of  crooked  elbows 
of  trees,  such  as  are  often  used  in  "rustic-work"  on  the 
shaded  walks  of  the  villas  of  the  rich  in  civilized  countries. 
The  top  of  the  Desk  was  finished  with  considerable  taste 
by  a  variety  of  combinations  of  upright,  horizontal,  and 
oblique  pieces  of  bamboo,  in  imitation  of  panels  and 
framed  edges.  In  front  of  the  Desk  was  the  Elders' 
Bench  (not  always  occupied  by  them)  used  by  the  pastor 


CORISCO    DAYS.  47 

at  Tuesday  evening  prayer-meeting,  and  by  the  Superin- 
tendent at  Sabbath-School.  In  front  of  it  was  another 
and  lower  desk,  not  so  highly  finished  as  the  upper  one. 
In  that  entire  pulpit  structure  there  was  no  piece  of 
foreign  wood;  only  the  bamboo,  and  round,  smooth 
native  saplings  denuded  of  their  bark. 

The  floor,  a  stranger  would  at  first  have  been  afraid 
to  tread  on ;  it  yielded  at  every  step.  Not  that  the  entire 
floor  shook;  its  basis  was  firm,  being  made  of  long 
straight  saplings  laid  across  the  heavy  foundation  beams. 
On  these  saplings  was  laid  a  matting  of  bamboo  split 
finely,  about  an  inch  in  width,  and  curiously  tied  to- 
gether (somewhat  like  East  Indian  "tatties").  Over  this 
were  strewed  leaves  and  straw;  and  over  all  another 
immense  bamboo  matting,  three  or  four  widths  covering 
the  entire  floor.  It  yielded  to  our  tread  like  a  Brussels 
carpet,  except  that  it  creaked  and  snapped,  making  a 
new-comer  think  that  he  would  break  through  it.  But, 
one  soon  became  used  to  its  elasticity. 

Light  was  admitted  to  the  Pulpit  by  a  large  diamond- 
shaped  lattice.  There  was  also  a  window-space  on  each 
side  of  the  Pulpit.  But,  one  of  these  spaces  had  been 
enlarged  for  a  wooden  lattice-shuttered  American-made 
pine  door,  which  opened  out  to  a  little  burial-ground. 
It  contains  the  sacred  dust  of  the  first  Mrs.  DeHeer, 
Rev.  George  M'Queen;  Rev.  Thos.  S.  Ogden  and  infant; 
Rev.  George  Paull;  a  British  Naval  officer;  and  two 
African  assistants.  At  first  it  had  no  enclosure,  and  the 
goats  and  sheep  wandered  over  it.  Mr.  Mackey  gath- 
ered funds  from  private  sources  with  which  to  purchase 
in  America  and  erect  an  ornamental  iron  fence  around 


48  CORISCO    DAYS. 

three  sides  of  the  Httle  square,  the  church  gable  closing 
the  fourth.  On  each  side  of  the  house  were  three 
window-spaces  closed  by  solid  wooden  shutters,  except 
toward  the  Evangasimba  yard  where  one  of  the  spaces 
was  occupied  by  a  door,  that  afforded  near  access  to 
Mr.  Mackey's  house.  For  evening  services  in  the  church 
a  few  dim  rays  were  shed  about  the  speaker's  desk 
(while  all  the  rest  of  the  house  was  in  blank  darkness) 
by  two  remarkable  fixtures,  the  result  of  Dr.  Loomis' 
ingenuity.  He  was  the  most  ingenious  man  I  remember 
ever  meeting  in  the  Mission.  What  he  made,  though 
insufificient,  was  vastly  better  than  the  single  hand-lamp 
or  candle  previously  used.  Taking  two  empty  tin  bis- 
cuit-cans, about  twelve  inches  by  sixteen  inches  in  dimen- 
sion, he  cut  out  the  sides,  and  inserted  glass  panes,  cut 
ventilators  in  the  top,  made  doors  in  the  bottom  for 
the  introduction  of  four  candles  into  each,  and  then  hung 
them  from  the  roof  by  the  ever-useful  rattan  strings  on 
each  side  of  the  pulpit.  The  manner  in  which  the  sides 
of  the  can  were  cut  out,  so  as  leave  a  margin  for  the 
insertion  of  glass,  was  really  ingenious.  Later  on,  Mr. 
Mackey  suspended  there  a  fine  hanging  kerosene  lamp 
which  he  had  brought  from  America  for  use  in  his  own 
house.  That  gave,  comparatively  a  flood  of  light.  The 
two  "chandeliers"  were  removed  to  the  two  darker 
corners.  The  leader  of  the  evening  meeting  was  then 
able,  by  dint  of  hard  staring  of  the  eye,  to  discover 
which  of  the  dusky  forms  in  the  audience  on  whom  to 
call  for  a  prayer.  At  that  early  stage  in  the  Mission, 
few  natives  had  learned  to  read  English,  and  there  was 
not  any  hymn-book  in  the  vernacular.     So,  no  light  was 


CORISCO    DAYS.  49 

needed  by  tlie  audience  for  handling  books.  The  leader 
"lined  out"  the  hymns. 

It  was  a  very  simple  building  for  Him  whose  Sanc- 
tuary is  ''strength  and  beauty."  He  should  have  had 
better;  but  those  native  Christians  gave  their  best. 
Most  of  the  labor  spent  on  its  erection  they  gave  with- 
out compensation. 

That  building  has  long  ago  fallen  in  decay.  Scarcely 
its  site  is  visible.  Its  successor  was  built  at  Alongo  on 
the  northern  end  of  the  island.  Evangasimba  was  aban- 
doned. Only  the  graves  mark  that  locality.  Even  of 
it,  the  iron  fence  has  rusted  away;  but  reverent  native 
hands  yearly  clear  away  the  bushes  and  rampant  grasses. 
A  Spanish  Roman  Catholic  School  has  been  built  near 
it ;  part  of  our  Protestant  work  being  centered  at  Alongo, 
and  the  remainder  being  transferred  to  the  mainland  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Benito  River,  some  fifty  miles  north- 
ward. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Childhood  in  Africa. 

WHEN  an  infant  was  born,  there  was  great  joy  in 
the  village.  The  house  was  filled  with  women; 
and  the  men  outside  were  drinking  rum,  and 
firing  guns  and  shouting  and  singing.  The  first  morn- 
ing after  its  birth,  the  babe  was  subjected  to  the 
ceremony  of  public  reception.  This  ceremony  was 
intended  as  an  honor;  but,  even  the  tender  mercies  of 
the  wicked  were  cruel.  The  naked  baby  was  laid  on 
a  plantain  leaf  in  the  open  air  in  the  middle  of  the 
street,  and  all  the  people  of  the  village  gathered  about, 
each  one  sprinkling  water  on  its  shivering  form.  I 
wondered  that  the  little  tender  things  did  not  die.  This 
custom  reminded  me  of  baptism;  probably  it  is  a  remains 
of  their  traditions.  But  the  people  knew  of  no  other 
meaning  in  it,  than  as  a  welcome.  Then  the  baby  was 
returned  to  its  mother,  and  the  two  were  to  remain 
indoors  for  a  whole  month.  The  mother  might  not  go 
out  farther  than  the  street,  and  the  baby  not  at  all  until 
the  month  was  ended.  During  that  time,  it  lived  on  its 
mother's  milk.  At  the  end  of  the  month,  the  mother 
cooked  a  great  deal  of  food,  and  putting  on  her  best 
clothing,  carried  the  food  to  the  village  town-house  where 
her  husband  and  his  friends  ate  the  food.  One  of  the 
friends  then,  having  presented  the  father  with  a  piece 

(50) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  5 1 

of  crockery,  or  a  few  yards  of  cloth,  entered  the  house 
in  which  the  babe  and  mother  had  stayed,  and  striking 
the  low  roof  with  a  stick,  called  aloud  the  name  he  had 
chosen  for  the  child.  The  baby  and  mother  might  then 
go  wherever  they  pleased. 

If  the  baby  was  a  boy,  he  learned  to  look  forward 
with  fear  to  his  circumcision,  which  might  be  performed 
when  he  was  three  years  old;  but  oftener  it  was  delayed 
until  as  late  as  eight  or  ten  years.  (A  memory  of  "the 
8th  day"  of  Judaism?)  This  over,  he  looked  with  fear  to 
his  twelfth  or  fourteenth  year,  when  he  would  be  pre- 
sented to  a  great  (evil)  spirit  Ukuku;  a  wicked,  and  (we 
supposed)  a  painful  ceremony.  (A  memory  of  the 
Temple  dedication  of  children,  in  Judaism,  at  the  twelfth 
year  ?) 

Then  his  "troubles  are  done,"  as  he  supposed,  and  he 
soon  grew  up  into  proud,  impudent,  lazy,  vicious  young 
manhood. 

If  the  baby  was  a  girl,  her  "troubles"  were  supposed 
to  be  "done"  at  the  end  of  the  first  month.  But,  really, 
they  were  only  beginning.  As  soon  as  she  could  walk 
or  run  well  she  followed  her  mother  to  the  plantation, 
and  carried  a  basket  in  her  hand,  or  a  small  jug  of  water 
on  her  back,  or  a  stick  of  fire-wood  on  her  head,  to  be 
taught  to  work  as  women;  or,  went  with  the  women  to 
gather  shell-fish  along  the  sea-shore. 

The  people  loved  to  have  children;  and  they  petted 
them  very  much  the  while  they  were  quite  young,  or 
unable  to  do  any  work.  That  is,  they  indulged  them 
one  hour,  and  perhaps  abused  them  the  next.  They 
taught  them  to  talk,  but,  among  the  first  words  which 


52  CORISCO    DAYS. 

were  taught  were  bad  words,  native  curses,  insults,  and 
foul  sayings.  If  the  little  tongues  succeeded  in  saying 
them,  they  were  much  admired  as  amusing.  But,  if  a 
child  should  happen  to  become  angry  and  utter  those 
same  words  in  earnest,  then  it  received  abuse  from  the 
very  one  who  had  taught  it. 

Those  children  were  governed  only  by  fear.  The 
same  "Black-man-down-in-the-cellar"  that  is  used  so 
wickedly  by  silly  servants  and  parents  in  America,  was 
used  also  in  Africa,  except  that  he  was  generally  a 
"white"  man.  I  regret  to  say  that  I  was  the  one  used 
by  some  of  the  people  of  the  village  adjacent  to  my 
house.  Almost  all  the  little  children  were  afraid  of  all 
white  people.  When  subsequently  they  grew  out  of 
this,  there  was  employed  the  fear  of  spirits.  And  when, 
later  on,  they  got  a  fetish  charm,  each  one  for  himself, 
to  guard  them  against  the  spirits,  there  was  no  further 
control  of  them,  except  for  females,  for  whom  was  used 
Ukuku,  and  the  hippopotamus-hide  lash. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Betrothment  and  Marriage. 

IN  no  one  thing,  more  than  in  the  social  position  of 
women,  is  the  difference  seen  between  a  Heathen 
and  a  Christian  country.  Heathen  women  are  only 
slaves.  So  far  from  being  man's  superior,  they  are  in  no 
respect  regarded  as  even  his  equal.  The  tender  relations 
of  lover  and  husband  (as  we  know  them  in  the  chivalry 
of  America)  do  not  exist.  I  doubted  sometimes  whether 
those  native  people  knew  of  a  lover's  knightly  feelings. 
A  woman  there  is  not  wooed  and  won  by  love,  so  that 
her  own  heart  and  will  should  direct  her  destiny.  She 
was  bought  with  money.  This  buying  with  money  or 
goods  as  a  "dowry"  gift  was  quite  tolerable,  if  the  young 
girl  consented  to  the  arrangement.  We  missionaries 
for  a  time  found  it  necessary  to  follow  that  plan  in 
furnishing  wives  for  the  young  men  from  our  schools. 
In  this  there  was  nothing  wrong.  But  the  Heathen  way 
was  a  frightful  shame.  Often,  little  girls,  as  soon  as  they 
were  born,  were  betrothed  to  some  old  gray-headed  man. 
A  young  man  had  not  much  chance.  But  an  old  man 
found  more  favor  from  the  father,  on  account  of  the 
wealth  or  influence  he  should  thus  bring  to  the  family. 
So,  the  old  man  would  lay  down  at  the  father's  feet 
some  article,  such  as  a  pitcher,  a  sword,  a  shirt,  or  a 
piece  of  cloth,  as  a  claim  on  the  little  baby,  who  was 
thenceforth  called  his  "mwajo"  (woman;  there  was  no 

(53) 


54  CORISCO    DAYS. 

real  word  for  the  name  wife).  From  time  to  time  he 
paid  other  articles,  worth  in  all  $50.00  to  $100.00,  in- 
cluded in  which  sum  was  a  slave  or  its  equivalent  in 
price.  When  the  little  girl  was  about  ten  or  eleven 
years  old,  she  was  taken  to  live  with  him  in  his  village, 
and  her  father  would  have  no  more  control  over  her. 
If  she  died  before  she  was  taken  to  the  husband's  village, 
the  father  paid  back  the  things  or  gave  him  another 
woman. 

Here  is  a  list  of  the  goods  I  took  with  me  once  on  a 
journey  to  Kombe,  where  some  negotiations  had  been 
made  for  a  wife  for  one  of  our  Christian  young  men: 
35  iron  bars,  2  brass  kettles,  3  matchets,  i  sword,  10 
brass  rods,  2  copper  neptunes,  i  gun,  i  keg  of  powder, 
2  butcher  knives,  i  hatchet,  5  heads  of  tobacco,  i  paper 
of  needles,  i  razor,  i  scissors,  i  straw  hat,  i  black  hat, 
I  umbrella,  4  pipes,  2  shirts,  i  pair  of  ear-rings,  i  goat, 
10  fish-hooks,  i  coat,  2  bunches  of  beads,  i  iron  pot, 
17  pieces  of  calico  prints,  i  handful  of  flints,  20  pieces 
of  crockery,  i  looking-glass,  and  2  chests.  The  girl 
was  willing,  and  was  to  have  been  brought  to  school 
to  be  taught,  until  she  was  woman-grown.  But,  the 
father  had  sold  her  to  another  man  before  I  got  there. 

There  was  a  very  sad  case  of  one  of  our  school  girls 
about  that  time.  Most  of  the  girls  there  had  been  paid 
for  by  us  in  the  way  of  dowry  gifts  and  were  safe  in  our 
care.  But  this  young  girl's  father  would  not  take  a 
dowry  from  us,  and  she  stayed  at  school,  every  month 
liable  to  be  taken  away  by  some  rich  man  with  other 
wives.  She  was  a  pretty  girl  about  twelve  years  of  age. 
delicately  formed,  little  hands  and  feet,  and  a  neck  that 


CORISCO    DAYS.  55 

made  us  think  of  Anne  Boleyn's.  She  was  called  Jenny 
Baird,  for  a  lady  who  was  contributing  to  our  school. 
Her  native  name  was  Ijuli.  She  sang  all  the  Sabbath 
School  songs  sweetly,  sewed  very  neatly,  could  make 
her  own  dress  after  it  was  cut  out  for  her,  always  said 
her  lessons  perfectly,  and  never  made  any  trouble  or 
broke  rules.  One  day.  I  heard  her  father  had  sold  her 
to  a  man  from  Elobi  Island,  for  a  large  two-masted 
boat.  I  saw^  the  boat  lying  at  the  beach  near  her  father's 
village.  I  found  the  report  was  true.  Alas!  it  was  too 
true;  for,  a  few  days  afterward,  while  I  was  teaching  in 
school,  her  father  and  two  other  men,  one  of  them  the 
hated  owner  of  the  boat,  came,  all  of  them  drunk,  and 
called  for  me  and  the  girl.  I  had  no  right  over  her; 
went  to  the  room  where  they  were;  and  sent  word  for 
her  to  come.  She  would  not  come:  for,  she  knew  what 
they  wanted.  At  last  I  had  to  go  myself  to  the  girls' 
yard  and  lead  the  weeping  child  to  her  drunken  father 
rather  than  have  him  make  an  assault  on  the  school. 
There  were  many  tears  that  day.  We  gave  her  clothing, 
books  and  needles,  and  other  keep-sakes,  and  a  chest 
in  which  to  put  them,  and  she  was  led  away  from  us. 
She  often  came  to  visit  us  afterward.  But  she  was  not 
happy.  Her  own  father  had  made  her  so.  In  later 
life,  she  fell  into  other  hands,  became  a  Christian,  and  a 
useful  church-member. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Mourning  for  the  Dead. 

THERE  were  many  strange  customs  and  manners 
among'  Corisco  people  which  struck  me  forcibly. 
I  suppose  it  would  be  so  in  any  country,  in  which 
one  was  a  foreigner;  from  which,  subsequent  acquaint- 
ance would  take  off  the  sharp  points  of  attention;  yet  the 
impression  produced  by  first  sight  remains  long. 

Within  a  few  months  after  my  arrival  in  September, 
1861,  on  Corisco  Island,  quite  a  number  of  persons,  of 
all  ages,  died,  and  I  heard  and  saw  somewhat  of  the 
custom  of  mourning  for  the  dead;  my  ear  began  to  be 
used  to  the  sounds  of  wailing;  but,  when  I  isolate  myself 
in  thought  on  a  certain  evening  in  March,  1862,  memory 
brings  back  as  sharply  as  ever  the  peculiar  efifect  caused 
by  the  first  hearing  of  an  African  wailing:  until  then, 
there  had  not  been  any  deaths  in  my  immediate  vicinity, 
since  my  arrival  on  the  Island.  In  the  village  Kamba 
(a  large  one)  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  distant,  the 
second  in  authority,  Okota  by  name,  who,  for  many 
years,  had  had  what  appeared  to  be  epileptic  fits,  was 
lying  dangerously  ill.  Several  of  the  Girls'  School  chil- 
dren were  from  that  village.  All  the  children  of  any 
village  call  its  headman  by  their  universally  mis-used 
name  of  "Father."  Several  times  came  a  message. 
"Okota  a  wendi"  (Okota  is  dead).  Properly  appreciating 
native  untruthfulness,  that  message  meant  that  the  sick 

(56) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  57 

one  was  much  worse,  or  that  death  was  anticipated;  so 
that  one  does  well  not  to  beheve  the  word  until  it  comes 
three  or  four  times.  I  had  before  gone  to  see  the  sick 
man;  he  could  not  (or  would  not)  speak,  though  he 
could  hear  perfectly  well.  His  whole  body  was  enor- 
mously swollen  with  dropsy.  I  sent  medicine  to  relieve 
distressing  symptoms,  but  felt  that  any  attempt  to  under- 
take a  course  of  medicine  for  recovery  was  useless;  he 
was  too  near  death.  Moreover,  firmly  in  the  grasp  of 
heathenish  rites  as  he  was,  no  regular  prescriptions 
would  have  been  followed,  against  the  word  of  the 
wretchedly  superstitious  women  who  had  him  in  charge. 

I  took  his  three  "children"  (no  real  relation)  to  see 
him,  and  expressed  sympathy  with  the  people  in  their 
affliction.  The  village  was  full  of  people;  had  been  so 
for  a  month;  strangers  from  other  villages  on  the  island 
or  mainland,  who  could  make  even  the  most  distant 
claims  of  relationship  by  blood  or  marriage.  They  had 
come,  according  to  native  custom,  to  see  the  sick  man 
die,  to  share  in  the  spoils  at  the  subsequent  division  of 
his  wives  and  other  goods.  As  guests,  they  were  to 
have  what  they  wanted,  of  smoking,  eating,  and  sleeping. 
I  imagine  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  were  becom- 
ing wearied  by  extra  fishing,  and  beggared  by  the  amount 
of  tobacco  they  had  been  compelled  to  furnish. 

The  weather  had  been  very  clear  and  beautiful  on  a 
certain  Saturday  in  March,  1862.  A  very  delightful 
season  there;  no  raining  in  the  daytime;  and  yet  cool, 
because  verging  toward  the  Long  Cool  Dry  Season. 
In  the  evening,  two  fellow  missionaries.  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
Mackey,  had  come  up  to  take  tea  at  my  house,  accom- 


58  CORTSCO    DAYS. 

panied  by  Winwoode  Read,  a  young  English  gentleman, 
and  amateur  traveler  and  hunter,  and  subsequently  an 
author.  The  day,  though  beautiful,  had  been  rather 
wearisome.  I  was  not  perfectly  well,  so  that  I  was  not 
enjoying  the  evening  conversation.  Suddenly,  a  great 
outcry  was  borne  on  the  air.  "There  is  mourning  in 
Kamba!"  I  had  not  heard  such  mournful  sounds  before. 
Okota  was  reported  to  be  dead.  The  school  children 
had  all  retired  at  their  usual  time,  but  their  quick  ears 
caught  and  recognized  the  sound.  Judging  the  cause, 
the  three  Kamba  children  began  a  sobbing  which 
soon  became  infectious,  and  the  whole  twenty  girls  were 
presently  crying  aloud.  It  was  annoying,  and  exceed- 
ingly depressing;  so  depressing  that  I  could  not  endure 
it.  Their  crying  was  unseemly;  the  news  was  probably 
false;  none  of  them  were  blood  relatives;  at  all  events, 
there  was  no  call  for  mourning  in  obstreperous  native 
fashion  in  a  mission-house.  They  promptly  yielded  to 
an  intimation  to  be  quiet;  and,  after  our  visitors  had 
said  good  evening,  I  went  over  to  the  village  to  see  the 
state  of  the  case,  first  agreeing  with  Mr.  Mackey  to  go 
in  the  morning  with  him  to  speak  to  the  people.  The 
two  school-boys  who  were  living  with  me  wished  to 
accompany  me;  I  was  glad  of  their  presence;  for,  there 
was  something  really  fearful  in  the  wails  that  sounded 
louder  and  louder  as  I  approached  the  village.  I  have 
never  forgotten  that  walk.  The  way  led  in  a  narrow 
path  through  the  thick  "bush,"  down  a  dark  hollow 
and  up  a  slight  ascent  under  a  dense  covering  of  leaves. 
In  native  towns  there  is  only  one  street;  wide,  with  the 
houses  set  closely  together  on  each  side.     As  I  came 


CORISCO    DAYS.  59 

to  the  head  of  the  street,  I  saw,  in  the  bright  moonlight, 
a  man  advancing  toward  me,  wailing  with  such  an  utter 
occupancy  of  grief  as  (apparently)  to  be  unaware  of  my 
approach  or  of  the  presence  of  others  near  him.  His 
arms  were  akimbo;  and  stepping-  slowly  along  with  a 
jaunty  motion  that  in  America  would  be  called  an 
attempt  to  be  "dandified"  (but  which  here  is  a  part  of 
grief)  with  head  thrown  back,  he  was  pouring  forth  with 
powerful  voice,  not  words,  but  mostly  a  cry.  Beginning 
with  an  imploring  scream,  ''O!  Tata-o"  (O!  my  Father) 
the  last  sound  was  changed  into  an  O  tone,  three  notes 
above,  and  this  note  was  continued  for  an  amazing  length 
of  time,  the  voice  relieving  itself  by  a  very  rapid  tremu- 
lous trilling,  that  seemed  rather  the  inability  of  nature  to 
sustain  the  strain  on  one  chord,  than  a  musical  attempt 
on  the  part  of  the  mourner. 

On  a  nearer  aproach,  I  discovered  that  he  was  one  of 
my  own  workmen,  a  suspended  member  of  our  church, 
who  lived  in  the  village.  On  approaching  the  spot  where 
I  stood,  he  ceased,  and  began  to  talk  in  a  very  ordinary 
tone  about  very  ordinary  matters.  I  was  standing  with 
two  others  of  the  townsmen,  who  also  were  employed 
in  the  Mission.  One  of  them  lived  at  our  Station,  and 
was  a  very  devout,  faithful  Christian.  Though  a  nearer 
relative  to  Okota  than  was  the  man  who  was  making  so 
great  an  outcry,  he  was -standing  quietly  and  seriously. 
I  could  not  see  how  any  of  them  could  be  otherwise  than 
serious.  Death  was  near;  that  wretchedly  mournful 
wailing  was  pouring  on  my  ears  from  as  many  as  fifty 
voices,  and  the  beautiful  tropical  night  was  about  me. 
(There   has   always   been   to   me   something   inherently 


6o  CORISCO    DAYS. 

painful  in  the  exquisitely  beautiful.)  What  a  mixture 
of  beauty  and  wretchedness!  A  beautiful  land,  but  a 
wretched  people! 

Everybody  whom  I  met  said  Okota  was  dead,  and  I 
believed  it.  I  wished  to  manifest  my  sympathy ;  yet,  how- 
ever insincere  the  grief  of  some  certainly  was,  I  did  not 
like  to  intrude.  No  mourner  speaks  to  the  visitor; 
nobody  says  "mbolo"  (long  life  to  you!)  You  are  looked 
at  with  a  vacant  stare  that  is  rather  repelling.  Not  being 
at  that  time  well  acquainted  with  their  customs,  I  asked 
the  advice  of  the  Christian  assistant,  and  advanced  to- 
ward the  center  of  the  village.  In  and  about  the  door 
of  one  house  were  gathered  quietly  the  nearest  relatives 
of  the  deceased.  (I  found  out  next  day  that  he  was  not 
actually  dead  at  that  time.)  Across  the  street  was  the 
house  where  the  "corpse"  lay;  (they  really  thought  him 
dead).  Around  the  door  were  a  dozen  women,  sitting 
on  the  ground  with  dust  thrown  on  their  heads  and 
bodies.  Respectfull}'  taking  ofif  my  hat,  I  sat  on  the 
ground  with  them.  They  were  crying,  sobbing,  scream- 
ing, wailing,  as  if  their  hearts  would  break.  It  was 
almost  impossible  not  to  weep  with  them.  It  was  so 
utterly  mournful!  Such  wails;  such  utter  desolation! 
Such  sobs!  I  thought  of  Jewish  hired  mourners.  One 
woman  sitting  on  the  ground,  with  her  hands  spread 
on  her  thighs  to  support  her  body,  was  rocking  to  and 
fro,  not  uttering  words,  but  sobbing,  sobbing,  in  a  low, 
broken-hearted  tone.  Another  uttered  a  succession  of 
screams  as  if  under  the  infliction  of  punishment.  Another 
was  extending  her  arms  forward  in  an  imploring  manner, 
calling  on  the  deceased  to  come  back.     Another  was 


CORISCO    DAYS.  6 1 

crying  and  sobbing,  and  at  the  same  time  plaintively 
telling  over  the  blessings  they  had  possessed  but  had 
now  lost  with  their  "Tata"  (Father).  I  did  not  salute 
nor  was  saluted;  but  my  presence  was  recognized  by  a 
woman  who  began  in  her  wailing  to  appeal  to  "Paia 
Nasa"  (Father  Nassau).  Most  of  them  uttered  the  same 
kind  of  wails  as  made  by  the  man  whom  I  had  met  at 
the  village  entrance.  I  never  heard  notes  and  tones 
expressive  of  such  extreme  desolation  and  grief,  even 
from  the  most  accomplished  public  and  private  singers 
whom  I  have  listened  to  in  civilization.  Such  apparent 
abandonment!  Such  entire  overwhelming  of  sorrow! 
Then,  suddenly,  the  mourner  would  stop,  take  a  pipe  of 
tobacco  from  a  neighbor,  and  quietly  and  unconcernedly 
smoke  and  talk,  while  another  took  up  the  strain.  I 
entered  the  house.  It  was  crowded  with  forty  or  more 
women,  most  of  them  mourning.  The  bed  on  which 
Okota  lay  was  not  accessible.  Objection  had  been  made 
to  my  offering  prayers,  when  I  once  visited  him  while 
he  was  living,  before  there  was  any  mourning,  and 
while  the  house  was  quiet.  It  would  have  been  vain 
to  request  permission  that  night. 

I  returned  saddened;  for,  to  all  the  causes  of  depressing 
sorrow  already  accumulated,  I  knew  that  the  lives  of  a 
poor  slave  woman  and  her  little  son  were  to  be  sacri- 
ficed; perhaps  before  Okota  was  buried.  They  were 
charged  with  having  caused  his  death  by  witchcraft.* 
Nobody  (natives  say)  dies  a  natural  death;  to  them  there 


*  This   incident   I   have   used   in   my   "Mawedo,"   published   by 
the  American  Tract  Society,  1881. 


62  CORISCO    DAYS. 

is  scarcely  any  such  thing;  in  their  beUef,  every  dead 
person  has  been  "bewitched."  The  question  after  one's 
death  is,  "Who  killed  this  person?"  They  look  around; 
he  or  she  who  does  not  mourn  much ;  who  has  had  some 
quarrel  with  the  deceased;  who  has  sometimes  uttered 
a  threat;  whose  life  is  not  worth  much,  or  who  has  few 
friends  to  defend  him  or  her  against  the  charge,  is  fixed 
on,  and  killed,  sometimes  with  torture. 

Talking  to  my  boys  on  the  wickedness  of  the  practice, 
as  we  walked  back  to  our  house,  I  was  pained  to  find 
that  one  of  them  rather  sided  against  the  woman;  al- 
though he  had  been  for  some  years  in  our  school;  his 
hereditary  ideas  cropped  out.  Perhaps  the  thought  was 
partly  in  him  that  she  had  actually  administered,  as 
some  said,  poison,  and  was,  therefore,  a  murderess.  It 
was  not  a  pleasant  ending  for  that  Saturday  night:  the 
many  and  conflicting  thoughts  kept  away  sleep. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Sabbath  on  Heathen  Ground. 

THOSE  who  live  in  a  Christian  land  do  not  know 
how  to  value  the  Sabbath,  as  do  those  who  have 
left  it  to  live  in  a  land  where  that  holy  day  is  not 
known.  For,  when  it  comes  in  America,  the  Christian 
knows  the  day ;  and  seems  to  breathe  an  air  different  from 
that  of  other  days.  The  bells  ring  solemnly,  and  troops 
of  children  are  seen  collecting  in  schools,  and  lines  of 
people  are  wending  their  way  to  church. 

In  a  heathen  land  it  is  not  so.  The  people  do  not 
know  which  day  is  Sunday;  all  days  are  alike  to  them. 
If  persons  came  to  me  on  Saturday  to  sell  something, 
and  they  said,  "To-morrow  I  will  bring  some  more," 
and  I  replied,  "To-morrow  is  the  Sabbath,"  their  answer 
would  be  "Hu  yowe  ("we  do  not  know"),  (That  some- 
times means,  we  did  not  care  to  know.)  If  you  were 
visiting  there,  you  would  see  on  Sabbath  morning, 
women  passing  by  with  burdens  on  their  shoulders  or 
backs  (for  women  do  most  of  the  work)  carrying  their 
mevanda  (cassava)  to  soak  at  the  springs;  or,  with  a 
basket  and  a  matchet  going  to  work  in  the  plantations. 
You  would  see  the  men  traveling  out  into  the  forest  as 
usual,  with  a  gun  to  shoot  wild  animals,  or,  to  kill 
enemies,  if  they  should  get  into  a  quarrel.  Very  pos- 
sibly they  might  get  into  a  quarrel;  for,  they  generally 
(if  they  did  not  have  rum)  had  their  bottle  which  they 

(63) 


64  CORISCO    DAYS. 

would  fill  with  palm-wine  (the  juice  running  from  the 
wounded  trunk  of  a  palm  tree)  which,  if  drunk  in  large 
quantity,  will  intoxicate. 

Some  did  not  know  it  was  the  Sabbath;  but  others, 
who  did  know,  might  be  seen  carrying  their  chests  and 
boatsail  to  the  beach,  to  commence  a  trade-journey. 
They  said,  "This  is  a  good  day:  so,  I  will  go  on  my 
journey  to-day,  and  will  have  good  luck."  They  did  not 
understand  that  it  is  a  good  day  for  God's  work,  but  a 
very  bad  day  for  Man's  business.  My  heart  often  was 
saddened  when  I  saw  these  things.  I  have  longed  for 
the  quiet  of  an  American  Sabbath;  for  the  bright,  clean, 
happy  faces  turned  church-ward;  for  the  chimes  of  the 
many  bells  of  a  city,  or  the  single  note  of  the  village 
church,  as  it  echoed  over  a  plain  and  down  a  valley. 
I  have  thirsted,  until  my  eyes  paid  for  the  heart's  pain, 
longing  for  the  joys  that  come  from  association  with 
many  christians  in  a  christian  air.  Then  God  came 
into  my  heart,  and  said  "Peace;"  and  all  was  peace. 
Sometimes  there  was  sent  joy  for  the  tears,  as,  sitting, 
of  a  calm  Sabbath  morning,  and  looking  out  on  the 
placid  sea,  with  a  fresh  cool  breeze  sweeping  from  the 
land,  I  dismissed  the  sounds  and  thoughts  of  Sin  that 
had  there  made  man  "vile,"  and  I  saw  only  the  "pros- 
pects" that  pleased.  There,  the  gently  heaving,  or, 
white-capped  sea ;  there,  the  blue  sky  above  it ;  all  around 
the  tropical  verdure,  green,  but  with  many  shades,  from 
the  pea  of  the  plantain  to  the  almost  brown  of  the 
bombax.  And  I  felt  that  God  had  "made  everything 
beautiful  in  his  time."  Then  I  sang  most  heartily, 
"The  morning  light  is  breaking."     "Let  rivers  of  Salva- 


CORISCO    DAYS.  65 

tion  in  larger  currents  flow."  Led  from  this,  back  to 
thoughts  of  heathen  degradation,  I  felt  no  more  the 
heavy  pain,  but  an  exultation;  for,  I  knew  that  surely, 
though  slowly,  a  beautiful  light  of  the  Gospel,  like  "the 
rosy  light  of  morn,"  was  creeping  over  that  sin-stricken 
land's  hills  and  vales. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  Sabbath  School  in  a  Heathen  Land. 

THE  fathers  and  mother  of  heathen  children  had  not 
the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  in  their  youth.  They 
were  not  called  by  the  Sabbath-bell  away  from 
their  play  and  work.  Even  when  the  Gospel  is  brought 
to  the  children  they  do  not  naturally  love  its  truths.  They 
do  not  love  the  Sabbath,  for  it  cuts  them  ofif  from  some 
sinful  pleasures,  or  idle  works.  They  at  first  do  not  love 
school,  for,  they  have  never  been  used  to  thinking;  to 
learn  to  read  is  for  them,  hard  work.  But  the  parents  saw- 
that  knowledge  of  books  has  made  men  wise  for  many 
useful  things;  so,  they  told  their  children  to  go  to  school 
on  both  week-days  and  Sabbath.  But,  heathen  children 
mind  their  parents  only  as  they  please;  so,  they  came  to 
Sabbath  School  only  if  they  chose  to  do  so.  Some  days 
there  were  only  a  few  pupils  besides  those  who  happened 
to  be  in  the  mission  boarding  schools,  who,  of  course 
were  brought  by  those  who  had  them  in  charge. 

A  Sabbath  School  in  a  heathen  land  is  unlike  one  in 
a  civilized  country.  But  it  is  not  very  unlike;  except 
that  in  civilization  we  have  more  Christian  light,  and 
are  more  able  to  understand  the  privileges  we  possess, 
the  hymns,  Bible  stories,  pictures  and  addresses.  But 
all  children  and  all  people  have  evil  in  their  hearts;  so, 
heathen  children  need  the  same  instruction  about  dutv 

(66) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  6/ 

to  God,  and  warnings  against  the  ways  to  hell  the  more 
even  than  are  needed  in  Christian  lands. 

I  will  tell  how  Sabbath  School  was  held  on  Cor- 
isco.  There  were  three  places,  or  ''Stations"  on  the 
island,  at  each  of  which  there  was  a  Mission-house. 
Those  places  were  Ugobi,  Alongo,  and  Evangasimba; 
but  at  the  last  named,  there  were  two  minor  dwellings. 
At  the  other  two  places  there  were  chapels  where  there 
were  held  Sabbath  Schools;  but  at  Evangasimba  was  the 
church.  There  the  Girls'  School  attended.  Let  me 
describe  that  school.  On  Sabbath  afternoon ;  the  first  bell 
had  rung  at  2.45  P.  M.  Soon  our  dwelling-house  was 
shut  up,  and  the  teachers  with  the  procession  of  twenty- 
five  girls,  were  on  a  winding  path  of  a  few^  hundred 
yards  to  the  church.  Rev.  Mr.  Mackey,  the  pastor, 
sat  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  and  he  gave  out  a  hymn,  some- 
times from  the  English  hymn-book,  sometimes  from 
the  small  manscript  Benga  collection.  Then  a  prayer 
was  offered  for  God's  blessing  on  the  instructions  about 
to  be  given  and  received.  The  pupils  of  the  Station- 
households  were  called  on  at  random  to  stand  up  and 
recite  the  verses  of  a  Benga  hymn,  which  it  had  been 
one  of  their  tasks  to  learn  during  an  hour  of  each  even- 
ing during  the  preceding  week.  A  great  deal  of 
religious  truth  was  thus  imparted  to  their  memories  if 
they  but  tried  to  retain  it.  At  least,  they  learned  the 
words  and  could  join  thus  in  public  singing;  for,  we 
at  that  time  had  no  printed  Benga  singing-books,  only 
the  missionaries  having  their  manuscript  copies.  Now, 
look  at  the  classes!  There,  in  the  side  seats  at  the  left 
hand   of   the   pulpit,   w^as    Mrs.    M'Oueen's   Bible-class, 


68  CORISCO    DAYS. 

a  few  of  the  oldest  School  girls,  some  young  women  who 
were  formerly  pupils  in  that  school,  and  several  lads 
and  young  men  who  had  been  in  the  boys'  schools. 
They  recited  from  the  Union  Question  Book.  On  the 
right  hand  side  of  the  pulpit  were  Mrs.  Nassau's  six  or 
eight  little  girls.  They  were  the  lambs  of  the  flock, 
the  youngest  in  the  Sabbath  School.  They  could  not 
read  or  spell,  barely  knew  their  letters,  but  their  teacher 
loved  little  children,  and  knew  how  to  interest  them. 
Their  eyes  would  twinkle  with  delight  over  a  picture  of 
the  infant  Savior,  or  would  sadden  at  the  sight  of  the 
capture  of  Joseph;  and  their  quick  ears  soon  caught 
up  all  Bible  stories  from  Adam  and  Eve,  through  Noah, 
Samuel  and  Daniel  to  Christ;  nor  were  they  wearied  to 
listen  and  ask  even  after  their  gentle  teacher's  voice  and 
strength  had  tired. 

Down  the  middle  aisle,  on  the  same  right  hand,  was 
a  class  of  five  or  six  girls.  They  could  not  read  or 
understand  English,  but  they  were  reading  in  the  Benga 
Primer  and  answering  from  a  Benga  Question  Book. 
Their  teacher  was  a  native  Christian  man,  who,  not 
many  years  before,  was  a  heathen,  trusting  in  his  fetish. 
But  he  had  laid  it  aside  to  trust  in  Christ.  He  gave 
me  that  fetish,  to  let  me  see  in  what  a  foolish  thing  he 
had  believed.  His  name  was  Upinyalo.  which  means 
"perseverance." 

On  the  other  side  of  the  aisle,  opposite  his  class,  were 
a  half-dozen  school-girls.  They  read  well  in  the  Benga 
New  Testament,  and  some  of  them  also  in  English. 
For  a  while,  they  had  for  their  teacher  a  young,  native 
man  who  had  been  a  promising  Christian,  but  who  after- 


CORISCO    DAYS.  ,  69 

wards  fell  under  temptation.  Yet,  he  knew  well  what 
and  how  to  teach,  and  could  tell  others  the  way,  and 
could  explain  verses,  even  though  himself  had  turned 
from  the  right  path.  This  class  sometimes  had  another 
teacher. 

Still  farther  down  the  aisle  on  the  left  was  a  miscella- 
neous collection  of  boys  and  lads  and  men  from  the 
villages.  Sometimes  there  were  only  two,  sometimes 
more  than  seven.  Some  could  read,  and  some  did  not 
know  a  single  letter  of  the  alphabet.  But,  Mr.  Mackey, 
as  Superintendent,  took  care  of  them,  and  to  each  one 
gave  instruction  according  to  their  capacity  or  attain- 
ment. 

Opposite  to  this  collection  of  lads,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  aisle,  was  an  almost  equally  heterogeneous  collec- 
tion of  girls  and  women  from  the  villages,  taught  by 
Mrs.  Mackey.  Sometimes  she  had  only  the  three  or 
four  girls  of  her  household;  sometimes  she  had  half 
a  dozen  others,  who  came  in  as  their  fancy  happened 
to  dictate,  or,  in  response  to  some  promise  they  had 
made  during  her  visits  to  their  homes.  If  they  lis- 
tened, they  were  well  paid  for  their  coming.  They 
were  given  explanations  and  instructions  and  affection- 
ate advice. 

More  than  an  hour  was  thus  passed,  and  the  lessons 
were  ended.  Perhaps  the  children's  and  teachers'  backs 
were  tired  with  sitting  on  the  hard  benches,  or  with 
stooping  over.  So,  they  all  rose  and  sang  a  Benga  song, 
such  as  "Ho  tatakudwe  n'  Anyambe"  (Preserved  by  Thy 
All-mighty  Power),  or.  "O'be  na  din*  iyam'  o  he"  (There 
is  no  name   so  sweet  on  earth),   or,   "Ho   tumbwakide 


yo  CORISCO    DAYS. 

Jisu"  (Come  let  us  sing  of  Jesus),  or,  "llina,  pepwaka" 
(My  Soul,  be  on  thy  Guard).  With  such  words  on  their 
lips,  the  hour  and  a  half  was  closed.  If  rightly  used,  it 
was  a  preparation,  for  both  teachers  and  taught,  to  join 
in  the  Lamb's  song  of  the  saved  in  Heaven. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Co.ME  TO  Prayer. 

GOD  uses  some  very  singular  means  to  spread  the 
Kingdom  of  Himself.  In  the  days  of  Christ's  life 
on  earth,  when  the  proud  Pharisee  refused  to  see 
in  Him  .the  true  God.  and  to  glorify  Him  as  such,  children 
in  the  Temple  made  Him  known  as  the  human  Son  of 
David  and  the  Divine  Son  of  the  Highest.  Often,  when 
parents  have  strayed  away  from  religious  influences  and 
neglected  the  ordinances  of  religion,  their  little  children 
have  been  used  as  the  means  of  bringing  truth  to  them, 
or  themselves  to  the  place  where  the  truth  might  be 
heard.  Such  was  the  case  in  our  Corisco  household, 
where  we  had  morning  and  evening  prayers.  The  even- 
ing prayers  were  held  after  darkness  had  fallen,  when 
supper  had  been  eaten,  and  when  all  work  was  done. 
A  hand-bell  was  rung  on  the  front  porch,  and  the  doors 
and  windows  were  left  open,  so  that  all  within  sound 
of  the  bell  or  in  sight  of  the  light  might  know  that  they 
were  invited  to  enter.  There  was  a  native  village  just  by 
our  enclosure,  so  near  that  I  could  have  flung  a  stone 
into  the  middle  of  its  long  street,  and  I  am  sure  that 
the  tones  of  that  hand-bell  could  be  heard  that  far.  But 
the  people  did  not  always  obey  its  call;  some  few  always 
came. 

The  house  nearest  to  us  was  inhabited  by  some  thiev- 
ish slaves,  who  never  came  to  prayers.     They  had.  liv- 

(71) 


72  CORISCO    DAYS. 

ing  with  them,  a  Httle  mulatto  child,  left  by  its  negro 
mother  in  their  care.  This  little  child,  as  soon  as  she 
could  attempt  to  run  at  all,  found  her  way  into  our 
yard,  and  up  the  steps  into  our  house.  She  was  afraid 
of  white  people,  at  first,  and  would  run  away  when  any 
of  us  looked  at  her.  But,  after  a  while,  she  ceased  to  be 
afraid,  and  came  to  the  missionary  ladies  when  they 
spoke  to  her.  Like  all  little  children  there,  she  was 
naked;  and  we  clothed  her.  She  admired  her  little  frock, 
and  whenever  she  saw  the  lady  who  had  given  it  to  her 
she  called  out,  "Mama-O!  Mama-O!"  Then,  when  the 
bell  rung  in  the  evening  for  prayers,  she  would  come  to 
see  the  bright  lights  in  the  hall,  and  the  array  of  school 
girls  sitting  around.  She  knew  w'hen  the  time  came; 
and.  it  being  too  dark  for  her  to  come  by  herself,  I 
could  hear  her  call  to  some  one  of  the  slaves  to  take 
her  to  "sikulu"  (school).  But  those  people  did  not  wish 
to  come  to  prayers,  and  they  would  not  mind  her  call, 
or  would  bid  her  be  quiet,  or  perhaps  strike  her  to 
make  her  sit  down  in  their  house.  But  Egalulema  (for 
that  was  her  name;  it  means  "Secret-of-the-heart")  would 
only  scream  the  louder,  and  kick,  and  cry  to  go  to 
"sikulu"  and  "Mama."  One  night,  w-hen  one  of  the 
women  had  unwillingly  yielded  to  the  child,  and  had 
brought  her  to  prayers,  and  she  had  sat  very  quietly 
until  all  was  over,  the  woman  began  to  complain  to  us 
that  the  child  made  her  come  to  prayers!  Egalulema 
had  cried  until  the  woman,  to  pacify  her,  had  brought, 
her!  This  little  infant  came  only  because  she  liked  to 
see  the  pretty  things  of  the  house  where  she  was  always 
treated  kindly.     Perhaps  the  people  she   compelled   to 


CORISCO    DAYS.  73 

come  with  her,  though  they  sat  unwilhngly  under  the 
sound  of  the  Gospel,  heard  some  words  which  may  have 
been  as  seed  in  their  hearts,  and  might  spring  up  there- 
after under  the  blessing  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "Out  of 
the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings,  Thou  hast  ordained 
praise." 


CHAPTER  X. 
Lights  and  Shades. 

IN  1864  we  had  been  grieved  by  a  disturbance  at  one 
of  our  out-stations,  Mbini,  on  the  mainland  among 
the  Kombe  tribe,  during  the  month  of  March.  That 
out-station  was  the  latest  one  made;  it  was  located  fifty 
miles  north,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bonito  River,  on  its 
south  bank.  Two  young  men,  Makendenge  and  Mbata 
were  the  ones  we  had  placed  there.  Mbata,  contrary  to 
our  rule,  interested  himself  with  one  of  the  Elobi  island 
white  traders  in  Corisco  Bay,  to  get  some  "trust"  for 
his  relatives  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  and  induced 
Makendenge  to  assist  him  with  his  knowledge  of  English 
in  writing  for  him  to  the  trader.  The  envy,  jealousy, 
and  anger  of  some  parties  living  at  and  near  Mbini, 
and  rivals  of  Mbata's  people  in  trade,  were  aroused  by 
this.  They  said  that  the  young  men  were  leaving  their 
proper  business  of  speaking  God's  word  and  were  med- 
dling with  "Trade."  Mbata,  fearing  trouble,  absconded 
to  his  people  across  the  river.  The  rival  faction  made 
an  assault  at  Mbini,  and  severely  beat  Makendenge, 
and  said  they  would  not  have  him  live  there  any  more. 
All  this  occurred  just  before  the  Communion  Season 
at  Corisco  of  April  of  that  year.  When  the  young  men 
all  came  down  to  attend  the  Lord's  Supper  we  investi- 
gated the  matter. 

(74) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  75 

As  a  result  of  the  investigation,  Makendenge  was 
reprimanded,  and  his  location  was  changed  to  Aje,  to 
live  with  Ilanga,  who  was  there  alone.  Aje  was  some 
seventeen  miles  south  of  Albini,  and  in  Makendenge's 
own  tribe,  the  Bapuku.  Mbata  was  suspended  from  the 
service  for  six  months.  He  felt  the  sentence  severely, 
and  thought  we  were  "putting  him  in  darkness."  But  it 
was  desirable  to  make  an  example,  as  there  had  been  no 
small  trouble  about  this  subject  of  meddling  in  "trade;" 
and  our  injunctions  on  the  subject  had  been  repeated 
and  specific.  Another  man,  Yume,  also,  whose  out- 
station  was  at  Meduma,  eight  or  nine  miles  north  of 
Mbini,  and  who  had  been  visiting  on  Corisco  for  six 
weeks  previous  to  the  Communion,  professedly  to  im- 
prove in  lessons,  proved  so  irregular,  unfaithful  and  even 
immoral,  that  the  Mission  was  constrained  to  dismiss 
him.  As  this  left  Etiyani  alone  at  Meduma,  he  was 
transferred  to  Njumba's  place,  Hanji,  (about  half  way 
between  Mbini  and  Aje).  Thus  were  two  of  the  out- 
stations  broken  up.  Doubtless  these  things  would  have 
been  less  likely  to  occur  had  the  Mission  not  been  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  young  men  so  much  to  themselves. 
On  the  morning  of  that  Communion  Sabbath  day,  two 
new  elders,  Njumba,  Bible-reader  at  Hanji,  and  Eyavo, 
Bible-reader  at  McQueen  out-station,  Elobi  island,  who 
had  been  elected  nine  months  before,  were  ordained  to 
their  office.  Much  confidence  had  been  placed  in  them 
both.     They  seemed  brave  men. 

A  young  man  from  Aje,  under  Ilanga's  instruction, 
was  presented  to  the  Session;  and  the  examination  was 
gratifying;    but    it    was    deemed    best    to    place    him    at 


76  CORISCO    DAYS. 

Alongo  for  three  months  further  instruction.  Four  per- 
sons, adults,  were  inquirers  at  Elobi  with  Eyavo.  They 
were  relatives  of  Eyavo  and  Licentiate  Ibia. 

After  Communion,  there  was  another  trouble,  which 
was  annoying;  for  it  gave  Mr.  Mackey  anxiety,  the 
while  he  was  too  sick  and  weak  to  be  about  or  able  to 
do  anything.  There  had  been  a  war-cloud  hanging 
between  the  Benga  and  the  Bapuku.  With  the  latter, 
the  Kombe  (of  Bonito  River)  are  somewhat  associated. 
The  Bapuku  had  killed  a  Benga  man,  and,  therefore, 
were  afraid  to  visit  the  island.  Even  Makendenge  and 
Ilanga  were  afraid  to  come,  unless  we  sent  our  boat  for 
them.  Our  boat  and  premises  were,  from  the  first,  to 
be  held  sacred  from  violence.  This  had  always  been 
the  missionaries'  understanding  with  the  Benga  tribe; 
also  it  had  been  agreed  that  our  ecclesiastical  employees 
were  not  to  be  involved  in  the  war  "palavers"  of  others. 
On  a  Monday  afternoon  following  Communion,  it  was 
desired  that  all  the  young  Bible-reader  men  should  return 
to  their  places  in  Njumba's  native  boat.  All  except 
himself  were  afraid  to  do  so.  There  were  many  exciting 
and  exaggerated  reports  that  some  Benga  war-boats 
had  left  the  other  (east)  side  of  the  island  to  intercept 
the  young  men  out  at  sea.  The  female  relatives  of 
the  young  men,  married  on  the  island,  increased  their 
fears  by  anxious  tales.  I  oflfered  to  take  the  mission- 
boat  and  go  with  them  by  night;  but,  they  were  so  afraid 
that  they  would  not  leave  our  premises,  and  even  had 
to  be  sheltered  in  our  houses  at  night.  After  two  days, 
the  reports  subsided,  and  the  whole  company  were  put 
into  our  large  sail-boat  under  Mr.  Ibia's  care,  with  the 


CORISCO    DAYS.  yj 

native  boat  in  tow;  and  they  left  on  a  Wednesday  eve- 
ning. They  reached  their  destination  safely  before  day- 
light of  next  day.  Those  of  the  Benga  who  would 
naturally  have  been  the  foremost  in  any  assault,  (had 
any  been  intended.)  sent  Mr.  Mackey  the  most  positive 
assurances  that  there  had  been  no  truth  in  the  reports. 

A  Spanish  gentleman  called,  shortly  afterward,  from 
a  Spanish  steamer,  who  was  superintending  the  building 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  priest's  house  on  the  island,  and, 
in  course  of  a  friendly  conversation,  he  said  he  was 
directed  by  the  Governor  of  Fernando-Po  to  inquire 
whether  the  American  Mission  intended  staying  on  the 
island.  (It  was  claimed  by  Spain;  and,  some  ten  years 
before,  there  had  been  a  notification  that  we  should 
leave).  Mr.  Mackey  told  him  that,  having  lived  on  the 
island  so  long,  we  had  no  intention  of  removing.  Sub- 
sequently the  Mission  heard  from  sources  that  professed 
to  have  good  authority,  that  it  would  not  be  interfered 
with. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Native  Evangelists. 

TO  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  evangehsts,  or, 
as  they  were  called,  Scripture-readers,  I  re- 
quired them  to  present  me  quarterly  reports. 
I  give  two  of  these  reports,  without  addition  or  subtrac- 
tion, except  to  insert  explanations  in  brackets,  thus  mak- 
ing the  translation  literal  and  idiomatic.  The  writer 
Etiyani  remained  faithful  to  the  end  of  his  life,  being 
finally  ordained  as  a  minister.  His  reports  were  written 
from  his  out-station  at  Aje. 

Report  No.  i,  1867. 

I  went  to  Matemu  [an  interior  tribe]  when  four  days 
of  the  week  had  passed.  We  slept  on  the  way  one  day. 
Then  I  spoke  to  the  head-man  of  the  village  saying, 
"Call  the  people."  But  there  came  not  many.  Per- 
haps they  feared;  there  came  a  few.  Then  I  talked  with 
them,  and  I  spoke  unto  them,  saying,  "Let  us  pray." 
Prayer  being  ended,  this  one  spread  himself  out  to  rest, 
that  one  spread  himself  out  to  rest,  and  almost  all  of 
them  laughed.  Then  one  man  spoke  to  me,  saying, 
"Etiyani,  we  know  that  there  is  a  God.  but  we  follow 
after  the  light  of  earth,  concubines,  and  paramours,  and 
marriages  with  many  women,  and  assignations."  That 
man  was  of  the  Bapuku  (tribe). 

(78) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  79 

I  have  just  come  from  the  Matemu,  very  far  away. 
I  was  there  with  an  interpreter  [His  own  Kombe  dialect 
not  being  understood  by  the  Ttemu  people.]  A  week 
passed  while  I  was  there. 

These  are  the  words  which  the  Aje  people  spoke  unto 
Asamba  |  a  Christian  woman,  who,  for  two  communion 
seasons,  had  been  hindered  from  coming  to  Benita,  by 
reason  of  inter-tribal  diflficulties]  saying,  "What  is  the 
reason  why  you  do  not  journey  to  the  Feast-Sabbath? 
Then  would  they  give  you  cloths  and  other  things" 
[The  little  friendly  gifts  we  sometimes  gave  to  departing 
visitors]  And  Asamba  replied,  saying,  "I  did  not  be- 
come a  Christian  for  the  sake  of  goods;  for,  I  am  a 
Christian  for  my  own  self." 

When  live  days  of  the  week  had  passed,  I  went  to 
Ulaba,  [a  village  of  the  Bapuku,  to  the  south]  and  one 
man  spoke,  saying, "Know  ye  the  reason  why  people  have 
not  come  to  worship?"  And  I  answered,  saying,  "I  do 
not  know."  And  he  spoke,  saying,  "Had  ye  given 
people  tobacco,  then  would  we  have  come  to  worship; 
but  you  did  not  give  us  even  a  leaf  of  tobacco."  Some 
of  them  said,  "They  are  not  real  people."  [i.  e.  that 
Etiyani  and  his  companion  had  not  treated  them  properly 
in  not  giving  gifts,  as  the  white  traders  usually  did.] 

On  a  week-day,  then,  I  went  to  a  certain  house,  and 
I  found  a  man  and  his  wife  in  their  house.  So  I  spoke 
with  the  husband,  saying,  "What  do  you  think  about 
the  words  of  God?"  And  he  replied  unto  me,  saying, 
"These  things  are  uselessness,  and  the  property  with 
which  you  trade;  they  are  old  legends.  And  as  to  the 
white  men  who  come  from  their  homes  with  those  legends 


8o  CORISCO    DAYS. 

they  love  you,  and  they  give  you  things.  But  for  me, 
they  are  legends  and  folly."  I  told  him  rightly  [about 
the  matter  of  gifts].  Another  time  he  spoke  to  me, 
saying,  "I  had  a  brother  who  talked  English  very  well; 
and  the  rest  envied  me,  and  they  gave  us  an  accusation, 
and  he  died,  being  cut  to  pieces  [on  a  charge  of  witch- 
craft]. Shall  I  see  him?"  So  I  explained  to  him  about 
that.  Then  he  spoke,  saying,  "I  will  not  again  see  him; 
for,  he  was  cut  to  pieces  alive,  and  they  cast  him  away, 
flesh,  and  arms,  bowels,  and  head,  and  other  members, 
each  in  places  by  themselves.  Will  he  arise?"  I  told 
him  exactly  about  that. 

When  three  days  of  the  week  had  passed,  on  prayer- 
meeting  night,  one  man  came  unto  me,  and  spoke  to  me, 
saying,  "It  is  witchcraft  that  puts  an  end  to  people."  [Not 
believing  that  we  died  what  we  called  a  natural  death]. 
I  told  him  what  was  right,  and  he  believed,  not  the 
belief  of  repentance  from  sin,  but  that  witchcraft  was 
vmreasonable.  And  the  wife  talked  with  me,  saying, 
"Etiyani,  we  understand  not  of  these  things;  therefore 
it  is  that  we  have  not  gone  to  your  house."  [to  hear 
about  them]. 

When  I  went  to  Walenzyi  [a  tribe]  then  I  came  to 
Ungaga's  village,  and  some  people  spoke,  saying,  "A 
white  man  came  here  who  spoke  with  us,  saying,  'Stand 
up;  Close  you  eyes;'  'Repent;'  'Respond  in  song;' 
but  he  gave  us  nothing;"  [Evidently  some  missionary 
on  an  itineration]. 

And  some  spoke  saying,  "A  shadow  is  the  spirit;" 
others,  saying,  "Don't  you  see  a  mirror?  As  you  look 
at  the  mirror,  the  spirit  is  there."     Then  the  owner  of 


CORISCO    DAYS.  8l 

the  town  summoned  the  people  to  my  meeting.     Some 
came  thinking  they  would  be  given  tobacco. 

On  a  night  of  the  week,  one  man  came  to  me,  and  he 
spoke,  saying,  "When  I  have  married,  then  I  will  be 
ready  to  become  a  Christian.  [Their  marriage  customs 
were  often  a  stumbling-block.  ]  If  I  shall  eat  of  the 
bread  of  God  and  the  wine  of  God,  I  will  be  made  good." 
That  man  was  of  the  Benga  tribe.  [He  had  perhaps 
heard  from  Romanists,  of  salvation  by  the  Sacraments.] 

Report  No.  2,  1868. 

The  week  had  passed  two  days  when  I  went  to  Ibota, 
a  village  of  the  Abenga  [tribe].  I  went  with  the  salt 
which  we  made  with  our  own  hands  [evaporated  sea- 
water]  to  buy  food;  and,  at  night,  I  called  people  to 
prayer;  and  a  woman  spoke,  saying,  "Is  prayer  held 
for  the  whole  town?"  And  others  replied,  saying,  "Yes, 
at  every  place  where  they  go,  there  they  tell  people  the 
words  of  God." 

On  a  week  day  I  went  to  another  village,  and  while  I 
was  entering  into  a  house,  before  I  spoke,  the  owner 
of  the  house  began  to  talk  to  me,  saying,  "We  people 
are  like  unto  basins,  and  beasts,  and  fish.  If  a  fish  die, 
it  returns  not  again  to  this  life  another  time.  We  people 
have  no  souls,  and  God  is  not;  for  I  consider  that  if  a 
human  being  die,  he  dies  utterly."  So  I  told  the  truth 
about  that. 

When  the  week  had  passed  two  days,  then  I  went 
to  Walenzyi  [tribe],  because  a  Walenzyi  man  had  invited 
my  companion  and  myself  to  eat  a  plantain.     But  at  that 


82  CORISCO    DAYS. 

time  1  did  not  go.  So  afterwards  I  got  into  a  canoe, 
going  toward  the  south  of  the  river,  and  I  tied  it  with 
a  vine  to  a  tree-stump.  But  they  look  on  the  stump 
with  great  respect,  saying,  that  that  stump  is  what  gives 
them  the  fish  they  eat.  And  when  they  observed  that 
stump  tied  with  a  vine,  they  asked  among  themselves, 
saying,  "Who  has  done  a  thing  such  as  this?"  There 
was  there  a  man  who  lived  among  the  Benga,  but  who 
belonged  to  the  Bapuku;  and  on  the  night  of  a  week- 
day that  man  danced  [in  spirit  worship]  and  he  told 
them  that,  "The  children  of  the  mission  are  those  who 
tied  our  myondi,"  [Sacred  thing.]  So  they  all  w-ere 
angry  except  one  man,  uncle  to  my  companion.  Then 
they  spoke  to  us,  saying,  "Eat  ye  not  fish?  Why 
is  it  that  you  went  to  our  myondi  thus?  Ye  shall  die." 
They  spake  hard  words  so  violently  as  would  make  some 
people  cut  one  another  wounds.  Then  we  spoke  with 
them,  saying  [to  show  that  he  had  no  fear  of  their 
superstition]  "We  will  go  and  cut  down  that  stump." 
Then  the  principal  man  of  the  village  spake,  saying, 
"Ye  have  vexed  us.  If  ye  cut  it  down,  then  Ukuku 
shall  dance  at  your  house  [i.  e.  you  will  be  boycot- 
ted.] We  live  by  those  stumps;  they  are  what  give 
us  fish." 

When  the  week  had  passed  by  four  days,  I  went  to 
a  village  at  one  place  up  north.  I  reached  the  village 
at  sun-overhead,  and  a  man  said  to  me,  that,  "most 
of  the  people  are  absent;  but,  speak  to  us  the  word  of 
God."     I  spoke  there. 

I  narrate  to  you,  brethren,  that  when  the  week  was 
passed  four  days,  the  men  and  women  of  Aje  met  to- 


CORISCO    DAYS.  83 

gether,  saying.  "Let  us  sacrifice  for  that  stump  which 
is  at  the  south  of  the  river."  So  they  took  fish  and 
mashed  plantains,  and  three  kinds  of  leaves  and  fruits, 
and  pandi-feathers  and  rum;  and  they  rubbed  chalk  on 
the  limbs  of  their  bodies.  In  the  early  morning,  before 
day  had  opened,  a  man  called  the  people  in  the  darkness 
with  a  voice  lifted  up,  saying,  "Come."  So  they  got 
into  their  large  canoe,  many  people;  they  went  to  cook 
food  for  the  stump  [as  a  sacrifice].  Now  their  thoughts 
are  that  they  shall  obtain  good  things  from  that  stump, 
fish,  and  plantains,  and  white  men  to  come  and  build 
trading-houses  among  them.  On  a  week-day,  they  met 
together  again  both  men  and  women,  and  they  built  a 
fetish  trade-house  on  the  seaside. 

When  the  week  had  passed  by  three  days,  then  I 
went  to  the  Walenzyi  of  Etembwi  creek.  I  capsized 
and  fell  into  the  water,  my  companion  and  I,  and  the 
canoe  surged  on  the  beach  with  the  waves  almost 
breaking  it.  Reached  the  town  wet,  wet.  The  bed- 
stead on  which  I  sat  was  dripping  with  water;  for,  I  had 
nothing  dry  to  dress  in.  So  I  told  them  the  words  of 
God.  And  they  spake,  saying,  "We  have  heard  that 
when  people  die  they  go  to  the  white  man's  land.  Some 
of  our  dead  relatives  were  recognized  on  a  ship  in  the 
cabin  with  a  paper  mask  hiding  their  faces."  [Probably 
photographs.]  And  the  other  spoke,  saying,  "Are  tliese 
words  so?  Are  they  not  tales?"  One  woman  of  the 
Walenzyi  was  there,  who  is  married  among  the  Bapuku; 
while  I  was  speaking  with  them  the  word  of  God  she 
had  no  care  to  listen,  but  was  only  diligently  singing 
their  own  native  songs. 


84  CORISCO    DAYS. 

When  the  week  had  passed  four  days,  then  I  talked 
with  them,  and  a  man  spoke  thus:  "I  would  that  ye  had 
brought  bottles  of  rum  and  goods  of  tobacco;  we  would 
have  come  to  hear  you,  many."  But  they  came  only 
few. 

When  the  week  had  passed  three  days,  then  I  went 
to  the  Walenzyi  of  the  Etembwi  creek,  and  I  called  the 
people  together  and  I  talked.  And  a  woman  spoke  to 
me,  saying,  "Look  on  me,  whether  I  still  have  a  soul, 
for  I  am  sick  so  much.  [The  belief  that  the  spirit 
sometimes  left  the  body  in  advance  of  actual  physical 
death.  I     So  I  told  her  about  that. 

When  the  week  was  passed  five  days,  then  I  went 
to  Ulaba;  and  at  night  I  called  the  people;  and  a  man 
spoke  to  me,  saying,  "If  the  commandments  w-ere  not 
so  many  I  would  be  a  Christian." 

People  of  Aje  say  that  we  evangelists  are  the  ones 
who  caused  to  come  the  mosquitoes  that  bite  people.. 
"Because  ye  tied  that  stump  with  bands."  Wherefore, 
they  say,  "Pray  to  God,  and  then  the  mosquitoes  will 
no  more  exist;  for,  you  say  that  there  are  no  other 
things  of  power  on  the  earth  but  God  only.  Where- 
fore, pray  ye  the  Lord  that  the  mosquitoes  may  no 
more  be."  However,  at  this  time,  they  have  a  house 
on  the  sea-side,  to  call  white  people  for  trade.  The 
person  who  makes  the  "medicine"  charm  for  that  pur- 
pose, whose  name  is  "Doctor,"  is  like  a  commander 
[in  his  influence  with  the  people].  And  one  person 
came  to  say  to  me  and  my  assistant,  "Come,  let  us  make 
you  a  medicine-charm  loved  exceedingly  by  white  men, 
and  then  you  will  be  a  great  Christian." 


COR  I  SCO    DAYS.  85 

I  have  come  from  one  tribe  the  name  of  which  is 
Asanga,  and  I  worshiped  on  the  Sabbath  there.  And 
the  man  who  owned  the  village  spoke,  saying,  "These 
words  are  not  of  people  of  this  earth."  Yet  some  of 
them  commended  us,  and  wished  to  go  to  the  forest 
[for  their  usual  works].  But  he  spoke,  saying  "Go  ye 
not  to  the  forest  to-day;  hear  the  words  of  this  man, 
for  they  are  of  God."  Therefore  they  put  off  the  forest 
journey  that  day. 

I  spoke  with  the  northern  Bapuku  the  Word,  but 
they  said  they  wearied  of  the  hard  commandments. 
"Yet  we  know  that  the  words  are  true." 


CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Ukuku  Fight. 

MY  eldest  sister,  Miss  Isabella  A.  Nassau,  joined 
the  Mission  in  the  Spring  of  1868,  and  began 
work  on  Corisco  Island.  But.  in  the  Fall  of 
the  year,  she  joined  me  at  Benita.  Shortly  after  her 
arrival,  I  was  assailed  by  a  native  riot,  in  consequence 
of  my  resistance  of  a  boycott  made  in  the  name  of  a 
great  Superstition  called  Ukuku.  An  account  of  that 
fight  I  wrote  in  1874  in  "Crowned  in  Palm-land."*  I 
here  insert  my  sister's  version  of  it,  written  in  1868. 

BRIGHT  SIDE, 

"There  is  one  thought  that  came  frequently  to  my  mind 
during  my  first  days  on  Corisco.  I  believed  that  the 
impression  would  pass  away  as  I  became  more  familiar 
with  the  people,  but  it  does  not;  the  impression  is  deep- 
ened, that  Christian  missions  among  the  people  of  Cor- 
isco, and  among  these  people  at  Benita,  have  been  blessed 
of  God,  in  changing,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  their  state. 
They  do  not  seem  essentially  heathen.  There  seems 
among  them  a  quiet,  fervent  spirit,  especially  as,  volun- 
tarily, at  the  ringing  of  the  mission-bell  for  morning 
and  evening  prayers,  they  come  crowding  into  the  recep- 


*  "Crowned  in  Palm-land :"  Lippincott,  1874. 

(86) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  87 

tion-room,  where  benches  are  provided  for  their  accom- 
modation. The  missionaries  on  Corisco  seem  to  feel 
much  encouraged;  there  appeared  to  be  among  the 
people  a  widespread  and  awakened  interest  in  rehgious 
things;  especially  was  it  encouraging,  because  many 
backsliders  were  desiring  to  come  back  again  into  the 
church.  I  have  often  thought  how  very  exemplary  are 
many  of  these  native  Christians;  their  temptations  are 
many,  and  peculiarly  strong.  Then,  too,  the  Sessions 
of  the  churches,  both  on  Corisco  and  at  Benita,  are  very 
strict;  they  suspend  their  members  without  hesitation, 
and  they  keep  candidates  long  on  probation.  At  the 
April  communion  on  Corisco  a  number  of  the  promising 
young  men  under  suspension  were  desirous  of  being 
admitted  again  to  the  privileges  of  the  church.  I  think 
the  strictness  of  the  church  Sessions  an  admirable 
arrangement.  A  feature  of  the  mission  work,  the 
standard  of  Christian  membership,  is  becoming  more  and 
more  elevated.  We  are  hoping  and  praying  for  a  bless- 
ing whose  fruits  will  be  seen  at  the  next  Communion. 
Three  persons  were  admitted,  and  one  infant  baptized, 
at  t'he  Communion  in  April.  There  is  a  large  and  inter- 
esting class  of  inquirers. 

Of  course  there  is  more  ignorance  among  some  of 
the  people  here,  than  on  Corisco ;  but  the  little  congrega- 
tion which  gathers  here  regularly  is  very  interesting. 
The  native  Christians  seem  to  depend  more  on  them- 
selves than  at  Corisco,  owing,  I  suppose,  to  fewer  mis- 
sionaries having  been  amongst  them.  I  believe  there 
has  not  been  a  moment  since  my  arrival  in  Africa  but 
that  I  have  been  conscious  of  a  deepening  sense  of  the 


88  CORISCO    DAYS. 

importance  of  the  work  of  missions  among  the  heathen. 
I  feel  that  God  has  so  abundantly  blest  the  feeble, 
sparsely-given  means  and  instrumentalities  by  which  the 
favored  Church  in  Christian  America  has  in  some  very 
limited  sense  obeyed  the  last  loving  injunction  of  her 
Lord  and  master,  "Go  ye  unto  all  the  world."  I  often 
think  if  some  of  the  warm-hearted  Christians  in  America 
could  listen  as  these  people  sing  the  sweet,  familiar  tunes 
we  sing  at  home,  could  hear  their  earnest  prayers,  and 
look  upon  their  attentive,  upturned  faces,  while  the  Word 
of  God  is  read  and  explained,  they  would  exclaim  as  I 
do,  thinking  of  the  priceless  value  of  one  immortal  soul, 
"All  these!  what,  all  these,  for  Christ,"  as  the  result  of 
such  few  and  feeble  instrumentalities!  "What  hath  God 
wrought!" 

THE    DARK   SIDE. 

A  few  days  after  my  brother's  return  to  Benita  from 
the  quarterly  meeting  on  Corisco,  we  found  there  was 
some  complaining  among  the  people.  Though  there 
are  so  many  of  them  who  are  the  mission's  warm  friends, 
there  were  several  who  might  be  called  enemies,  though 
they  had  no  just  reason  to  be  such.  These  people  are 
very  sensitive,  and,  in  some  things,  very  punctilious. 
The  men  who  were  unfriendly  incited  others  to  demand 
a  higher  price  for  the  produce  they  every  morning  bring 
to  the  door  and  expose  for  sale.  Accordingly  they  came 
on  Thursday,  April  i6th,  and  made  their  demand.  It  was 
quietly  and  positively  declined.  This  irritated  them; 
they  were  angry;  they  went  further,  and  ^aid  they  had 
laid  the  prohibition  of  "Ukuk"  on  the  spring  of  water 


COR  I  SCO    DAYS.  89 

which  is  on  the  mission  premises;  and,  making  it  a 
crime  punishable  with  death,  they  forbade  any  one,  to 
bring  water  to  the  missionaries  from  that  spring.  No 
one  was  allowed  to  bring  anything  to  sell,  or  even  to 
cook  for  us;  and  others,  employed  on  the  premises,  were 
forbidden  to  come  to  the  mission-house.  Things  were 
in  this  condition  from  Thursday  P.  M.,  until  Saturday 
A.  M.,  when  matters  were  made  severer.  Dr.  Nassau 
ignoring  the  "Ukuk"  prohibition,  which  had  been  laid 
upon  his  own  spring,  and  going  thither  himself.  As  he 
was  returning,  a  man  met  and  followed  him  with  a  spear 
thrust  at  him,  but  unable  to  strike  him.  He  reached  the 
house  in  safety,  but  the  action  of  the  man  was  significant 
of  the  feelings  of  the  enemies.  During  the  morning, 
some  of  the  Christians  had  come,  inquiring  if  it  would 
be  wrong  for  them  to  fight  if  the  enemies  made  an 
attack,  which,  I  suppose,  they  knew  better  than  he  did, 
was  intended.  He  gave  them  Bible  authority  for  de- 
fending their  lives,  and  the  cause  of  truth  and  religion. 
In  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  the  people  of  both  sides 
congregated  around  the  premises,  the  Christians  to  the 
number  of  thirty  or  thirty-five,  the  enemies  not  more 
than  that, — I  think  they  numbered  less.  They  were  quite 
excited.  One  young  man  of  the  Christians  declared  his 
intention  to  brave  "Ukuk,"  and  asked  for  a  jug  or  bucket 
to  go  to  the  spring.  He  went  and  returned,  but  on  his 
arrival  at  the  house,  an  attack  was  made  upon  him  by 
the  enemies,  and  thus  the  fighting  commenced  at  4  P.  M., 
on  Saturday  afternoon,  i8th.  We  hastily  barred  the 
doors  and  windows,  and  betook  ourselves  to  the  safest 
place  in  the  frame-house,  which  we  thought  was  upstairs. 


90  CORISCO    DAYS. 

Dr.  Nassau  was  concealed  for  a  time  in  the  bamboo- 
house,  but,  anxious  about  us,  while  the  fight  was  pro- 
gressing, came  to  a  side  door  and  called  for  admittance. 
He  knew  we  would  not  dare  open  unless  we  heard  his 
voice,  for  the  enemies  had  been  trying  to  force  the 
door  of  entrance  from  the  verandah,  which  connects  with 
the  bamboo  house.  The  men,  especially  among  the 
Christians,  were  pretty  well  supplied  with  guns  and 
spears.  The  fighting  was  around  the  two  houses. 
Through  the  slight  structures  of  the  frame  and  bamboo 
houses  every  sound  came  as  distinctly  as  if  we  were 
outside.  There  was  something  fearful,  indeed,  in  the 
hideous  yells  and  shouts  which  accompanied  the  quick 
firing  of  the  guns.  Yes;  the  sudden  rage,  the  unjust- 
ness  and  the  cruelty  of  the  heathen,  is  a  fearful  thing! 
If  it  be  God's  will,  I  pray  none  of  us  may  ever  feel  it  so 
near  and  terrible  again.  I  thought  I  had  looked  danger 
and  death  in  the  face  in  the  middle  of  the  Atlantic  ocean, 
on  the  night  of  the  17th  of  January.  Then  I  felt  myself 
in  God's  hands;  my  Father  could  not  err,  and  over  those 
tumultuous  elements  He  had  perfect  control.  But  it 
did  seem  something  dilTerent  to  face  death  at  the  hands 
of  a  company  of  excited  heathens;  yet,  do  not  imagine 
that  our  confidence  in  God  failed  for  one  instant.  A 
sense  of  His  presence  and  His  power  calmed  our  hearts 
during  the  brief  but  fearful  trial.  Side  by  side,  Mrs. 
Nassau  and  I  knelt,  and  felt  too  deeply  for  words,  that 
"God  was  our  refuge,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble." 
The  fighting  lasted  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes,  and  then 
the  enemies  made  a  retreat  before  the  determined  bravery 
of  the  band  of  Christians. 


corisco  days.  9i 

Settlement  of  the  difficulties. 
There  is  often  a  sudden  calm  after  these  storms  of 
heathen  passions.  So  it  was  on  this  occasion.  Dr. 
Nassau  appeared  among  them;  and  they  were  ready  for 
a  settlement  of  the  difficulties  in  a  talk,  a  "palaver," 
which  continued  from  5  P.  M.  until  8  P.  M.  or  after. 
You  will  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you  that  no  one  was 
killed,  and  only  three  slightly  wounded.  The  reason 
for  this  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  these  people  are 
not  naturally  brave.  [Probably  they  fired  without  aim.] 
It  was  an  unheard  of  thing  for  those  native  Christians 
to  take  the  stand  which  they  did,  against  their  neighbors 
and  townspeople,  and  against  the  universally-acknowl- 
edged law  of  "Ukuk.''  Their  noble  defense  of  the 
Christian  Church,  which  is  planted  in  their  midst,  is 
a  most  encouraging  fact  amid  the  dark  acts  of  unfriend- 
liness. It  does  seem  as  if  God  would  make  the  wrath  of 
the  heathen  to  praise  him.  Already  there  seems  to  be 
quite  a  revulsion  of  feeling  among  the  fev/  men  who 
were  the  leaders  in  the  attack.  Only  a  week  after  the 
fight,  one  of  the  most  determined  of  the  leaders  was 
on  Sabbath  morning  in  the  forest,  cutting  bamboo,  when 
he  wounded  himself  severely  on  the  foot.  Now,  it  is 
one  of  Dr.  Nassau's  rules  with  the  people,  that,  if  they 
wound  themselves  in  working  on  the  Sabbath,  they  must 
not  come  to  him  for  aid.  But  this  man  was  so  badly 
wounded  that  some  of  the  Christians  came  hesitatingly 
to  ask  Dr.  Nassau  if  he  would  go  to  his  enemy,  who 
desired  him  to  come.  He  considered  the  matter;  and, 
principally  because  he  was  his  enemy,  he  went,  and 
determined  to  improve  the  opportunity  of  impressing 
some  Christian  truths  upon  his  mind." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Building  of  a  Church. 

MY  sister  Miss  I.  A.  Nassau's  description  (written 
in  Spring  of  1869)  of  the  first  effort  of  the 
Benita  people  to  erect  a  church-building  for 
themselves,  is  accurate.  The  contributions  were  almost 
entirely  in  materials  and  labor.  But  the  actual  erection 
required  much  urgency  on  my  part.  The  house  was  not 
completed  for  occupancy  until  18  months  later. 

"When  you  have  been  told  of  the  church  at  Benita, 
you  were  not  to  understand  that  a  house  for  the  special 
service  of  worship  had  been  built  at  the  expense  of  the 
mission.  It  was  my  brother's  desire,  from  his  first  com- 
ing here,  that  the  people  should  grow  into  the  idea  of 
building  for  themselves. 

There  are  two  houses  at  this  station,  one  of  bamboo 
which  Mr.  Paull  built  and  occupied,  and  the  frame  one, 
material  for  which  was  brought  from  America,  when  Mr. 
DeHeer  came  out  last,  built  by  Dr.  Nassau.  The  bam- 
boo house  is  occupied  as  study  and  storeroom  by  my 
brother,  as  to  one-half  of  its  space;  the  other,  a  larger 
room,  able  to  hold,  as  these  people  can  crowd,  100,  per- 
haps 150;  and  this  is  the  church  room.  Here  are  held 
morning  and  evening  prayers,  the  day-school,  the 
prayer-meetings,  class-meetings  and  Sabbath-services. 
Often  the  people  find  trouble  to  seat  themselves,  even 
bv  crowding  the  study  and  the  verandah  which  connects 

(92) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  93 

the  two  houses.  They  were,  on  each  occasion,  told  of 
the  propriety  of  building  a  house  able  to  accommodate 
them  and  the  many  more  whom  they  should  desire  to 
bring  in  from  among  their  heathen  countrymen.  The 
feeling  grew.  Two  months  ago,  our  valued  friend,  the 
devoted  veteran  missionary  at  Gaboon,  the  Rev.  Wm. 
Walker,  visited  my  brother,  and  while  here  placed  the 
subject  plainly  and  practically  before  the  people;  they 
began  to  see  that  the  thing  could  be  done. 

The  bell  and  its  mission. 

When  on  the  15th  of  March,  the  'Sweet  Church  Bell' 
was  given  from  the  Sabbath  School  of  the  ist  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Peekskill,  N.  Y.,  through  S.  R.  Knapp, 
Esq.,  the  question  came  up  more  pointedly  than  ever: 
'Here  is  the  bell,  but  where  is  the  church?'  Still  my 
brother  left  the  initiative  of  the  work  with  the  people. 

Then  came  the  precious  communion  season  of  the 
28th  March,  with  all  its  attendant  services,  full  of  deep 
interest.  The  'bell'  commenced  its  heavenly  mission  by 
calling  the  people  to  these  services. 

Nothing  had  been  said  to  my  brother  about  their 
plans,  so  that  when,  on  Monday  following  the  com- 
munion, at  morning  prayers,  the  room  was  crowded,  it 
did  not  occur  to  any  of  us  that  they  were  brought  to- 
gether in  such  numbers,  again,  from  any  other  feeling 
than  to  enjoy  once  more  before  parting,  some  to  distant 
homes,  the  service  they  had  found  so  delightful  on 
Sabbath. 

I  wish  you  could  have  joined  with  us  and  that  gath- 
ered band,  most  of  whom  were  Christians,  on  that  bright 


94  CORISCO    DAYS. 

early  morning.  I  looked  on  those  bright  faces,  while 
they  sang  the  Benga  hymn  of  'Salvation,  oh!  the  joyful 
sound,'  to  their  favorite  Ortonville,  then  out  upon  the 
calm,  blue  lake-like  river,  with  its  banks  of  constant 
verdure,  all  beaming  in  the  lovely  sunlight,  and  my 
heart  swelled  with  joy  that  a  heavenly  light,  a  Saviour's 
love,  was  pouring  its  radiance  around  me,  making  these 
dark  faces  glow  with  love  and  joy.  The  song  and 
prayer  ceased;  after  the  usual  salutation,  two  noble 
young  men  came  forward  and  seating  themselves  before 
my  brother,  'Tom'  (one  of  Mr.  Paull's  first  inquirers) 
said  they  wished  to  begin  their  subscription  for  the 
church,  and  requested  him  to  draw  up  the  paper  and 
receive  the  names  with  their  gifts!  That  was  a  glad 
moment  for  all  of  us. 

They  began  with  subscriptions  not  over  five  dollars, 
though  some  added  afterwards,  giving  their  wives' 
names,  and  one,  an  interesting  young  man,  who  had 
been  admitted  to  the  church  just  the  previous  day,  and 
after  his  own  baptism,  had  presented  his  little  boy,  only 
a  few  months  old,  for  the  same  precious  rite,  this  young 
man  added  to  his  subscription  one  dollar  for  his  little 
boy,  the  'child  of  the  church.'  There  was  much  en- 
thusiasm, and  more  deep,  because  new,  feeling,  mani- 
fested by  this  company  than  you  would  see  in  such  a 
meeting  in  America. 

As  I  sat  and  looked  and  listened,  I  said,  what  a  change 
has  the  preaching  of  a  Saviour  wrought  in  five  short 
years!  A  band  of  thirty-eight  earnest  Christians  and 
many  more  interested  ones,  uniting  to  build  a  house  for 
the  worship  of  God! 


CORISCO   DAYS.  95 

In  about  an  hour,  $ioo.  were  subscribed  by  the  people 
themselves!     More  has  since  been  added. 

They  at  once  wished  to  have  some  advice  about  the 
plan  of  the  church,  but,  as  my  brother  was  to  leave  in 
April  for  a  week  or  ten  days'  absence  at  the  mission- 
meeting  on  Corisco,  he  told  them  to  perfect  the  arrange- 
ment about  the  division  of  building  material,  and  he 
would  confer  with  them  again.* 

Oh!  only  those  who  have  toiled  alone,  combating  the 
varying  feelings  and  superstitions  of  a  people  like  this, 
can  know  our  feelings,  as  at  a  late  hour  of  the  morning 
we  sat  down  to  breakfast,  at  length  able  to  realize  the 
scene  of  the  morning  prayers. 

Since  my  brother's  return  from  the  quarterly  meeting 
at  Corisco  the  two  young  men  Ebuma  and  'Tom' 
(Mwanyatye)  have  had  frequent  consultations  with  him 
about  the  building. 

It  is  not  probable  that  it  will  be  ready  for  occupancy 
before  the  communion  in  October;  for,  after  the  Bolondo 
house,  for  my  school,  is  finished,  and  the  Long  Dry 
Season  is  really  begun,  my  brother  hopes  to  accomplish 
a  long-wished-for  journey  into  the  interior.  One  of  the 
young  men,  who  will  be  in  his  company,  himself  having 
been  there,  says  that  the  head-man  of  one  of  those  large 
towns  promised  a  large  gift  to  any  man  who  would 
bring  him  a  missionary.     Of  course,  the  visit  would  be 


*  Thus  early  in  the  history  of  the  Mission  I  was  urging  the 
natives  to  depend  on  themselves  for  the  erection  of  their  school- 
houses  and  churches.  And,  yet,  thirty-five  years  later,  a  charge 
was  made  against  me  that  I  was  opposed  to  the  policy  of  Native 
Self- Support  I ! 


96  CORISCO    DAYS. 

but  a  short  one;  yet  the  man  might  be  satisfied  if  one 
of  the  young  men  who  have  been  Sscripture-readers, 
and  are  now  under  additional  instruction,  should  be  sent 
to  reside  with  him." 

Subsequently  my  journey  was  made;  and  a  young  man 
was  sent. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
CoRisco  Transferred. 

AT  a  meeting  of  the  Corisco  Mission  in  1868,  the 
Rev.  S.  ReutHnger  was  appointed  to  prepare  a 
letter,  setting  forth  the  wants  of  its  two  Stations, 
in  the  hope  that  it  would  reach  the  young  men  in  our 
theological  seminaries  and  who  were  asking,  "Lord, 
what  wouldst  Thou  have  us  to  do?"  Some  time  before, 
I  had  written,  "Do,  do.  beg  somebody  to  come  to  us. 
I  do  not  faint  when  I  look  forward  at  the  work;  but 
when  I  look  back  to  the  churches  for  support,  my  heart 
weeps.  Why  will  they  leave  the  lone  pickets  to  weary 
and  fall?" 

With  Mr.  ReutHnger  I  therefore  made  the  following 
statement,  "When  Corisco  Island  was  first  selected,  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  missionary  station,  it  was 
not  chosen  on  account  of  any  advantages  of  its  inhab- 
itants over  other  neighboring  tribes,  but  chiefly  on 
account  of  its  central  position.  It  was  a  matter  of 
necessity  that  such  a  station  should  keep  up  a  connec- 
tion with  the  civilized  world.  Corisco  was  favorably 
situated  for  this  purpose.  It  was  further  of  great  im- 
portance that  as  healthy  a  place  as  possible  be  selected. 
Corisco  seemed  also  to  meet  this  requisite,  being  at 
some  distance  from  the  coast  of  the  continent  with  its 
dreaded  malarial  influence.  Being  thus  situated  about 
the  middle  of  the  mouth  of  a  Bay,  it  presented  a  central 

(97) 


98  CORISCO    DAYS. 

point,  from  which  a  large  portion  of  the  mainland  could 
easily  be  reached  in  boats  as  from  another  land.  Two 
rivers  of  considerable  size  emptying  into  this  bay,  were 
also  easily  accessible  in  boats,  and  it  was  hoped  that 
they  would  become  the  great  highways,  upon  which  the 
Gospel  would  be  carried  into  the  interior  of  this  large 
Continent.  After  the  missionaries  had  settled  and 
acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  native  language,  they 
entered  upon  that  great  plan.  Frequent  journeys  w^ere 
made  to  different  parts  of  the  coast  and  up  those  rivers. 
As  a  general  rule,  they  were  kindly  received  everywhere, 
though  they  were  sometimes  annoyed  by  the  quarrels 
and  feuds  of  the  dififerent  tribes.  But,  while  the  mission- 
aries directed  their  plans  and  hopes  chiefly  to  the  main- 
land, Corisco  Island  was  not  forgotten,  and  indeed  could 
not  be  neglected,  from  its  very  importance.  A  small 
congregation  was  by-and-by  gathered,  which,  by  God's 
blessing,  increased.  A  congregation  needs  to  be  taken 
care  of,  and  especially  so,  if  consisting  of  newly  con- 
verted members.  The  wider  the  members  of  it  are 
scattered  the  greater  labor  will  be  required;  and  this  was 
the  case  here.  Besides,  boarding-schools  were  estab- 
lished, which  had  to  be  carried  on  chiefly  by  white  men 
and  women.  Also,  the  task  and  work  of  the  treasurer 
of  this  mission  were  by  no  means  a  trifle.  So  the  work 
on  Corisco  Island  itself  soon  required  the  strength  and 
time  of  two  or  three  male  missionaries.  Still,  the  visits 
to  the  mainland  could  be  contined,  as  the  number  of 
missionaries  was  increased.  But,  when  the  work  was 
flourishing  thus,  a  time  of  trials  commenced.  The 
Civil  War  in  America  broke  out,  which  soon  made  our 


CORISCO    DAYS.  99 

work  feel  its  influence.  Some  of  the  nieniljers  of  tlie 
Mission  went  either  to  their  eternal  rest,  or  to  their 
earthly  homes  for  restoration  to  their  health.  Reinforce- 
ments could  only  be  sent  out  sparingly.  A  number  of 
church-members,  of  whom  much  good  had  been  ex- 
pected, fell  back  into  heathenism." 

Moreover.  Rev.  George  Paull  thought  himself  guided 
by  divine  Providence  to  establish  a  station  north  on  the 
banks  of  tlie  Bonito  River;  and.  after  his  unexpectedly 
early  death.  I  thought  myself  guided  by  the  same  prov- 
idence to  take  his  place  there.  In  consequence  of  all 
these  things,  the  work  on  Corisco  had  to  be  reduced.  The 
plans  concerning  the  mainland  near  Corisco  were  partly 
abandoned,  partly  modified.  It  was  found  that  native 
evangelists,  even  if  safe  among  hostile  tribes,  had  to  be 
given  white  superintendence.  Corisco  proved  to  be  no 
more  free  from  malaria  then  the  mainland.  If,  therefore, 
malaria  was  to  be  accepted,  we  decided  to  accept  it  with 
a  sphere  of  work  wider  than  the  little  island.  One  (girls') 
school  had  to  be  discontinued,  and  another  one  (boys' 
school)  could  still  for  some  time  be  carried  on,  but  was 
finally  broken  up.  Before  this  last  mentioned  event,  Li- 
centiate Ibia  established  a  school  at  Mbangwe  on  the 
mainland  of  the  Bay,  with  the  view  of  making  it  self-sus- 
taining. For  several  years  afterward,  the  reinforcements 
sent  from  America  were  only  sufificient  to  fill  the  places 
of  others  who  departed;  and  their  next  object  could,  of 
course,  only  be  to  keep  what  their  predecessors  had 
gained,  and  confine  their  work  as  far  as  possible  to 
Corisco  alone.  In  1868  the  girls'  school  was  attempted 
to  be  re-established,  but  it  was  soon  abandoned.     The 


lOO  CORISCO    DAYS. 

work  on  the  mainland  (along  the  bay)  was  re-com- 
menced ;  but  expectation  of  its  being  extended  failed. 

Later,  there  were  gratifying  signs  of  growth  both  in 
the  Corisco  and  Benita  churches.  But  there  were  not 
enough  missionaries  to  maintain  the  schools  in  both 
places. 

The  work  at  Benita  was  out-growing  my  strength. 
"A  great  eagerness  was  prevailing  among  the  Kombe 
tribe.  The  people  there  were  ruder  than  the  Benga 
on  Corisco;  but  they  seemed  to  possess  more  energy, 
and.  in  many  respects,  a  greater  stability  of  character. 
Both  these  features  are  of  course  only  human,  but  the 
importance  of  their  presence  in  a  person  who  wants  to 
become  a  Christian,  will  easily  be  recognized.  In  the 
comparatively  short  time,  in  which  the  Benita  work  was 
carried  on,  much  had  been  done.  A  church  was  organ- 
ized and  had  ever  since  been  increasing  in  numbers,  but 
at  the  same  time  increasing  the  burden  laid  upon  their 
pastor.  Besides  the  care  of  the  station,  building  houses 
and  outhouses,  attention  to  the  sick,  teaching  those  who 
wished  to  learn  to  read,  instructing  the  catechumens, 
superintending  all  our  Bible-readers  but  one  [because 
they  lived  much  nearer  my  place  than  Corisco],  and 
conducting  services,  all  these  different  branches  of  the 
work  threw  a  greater  amount  of  care  and  labor  upon 
him  than  a  white  man  can  safely  stand  in  Africa  without 
injury  to  his  health." 

But  my  strength  was  still  further  taxed.  About  the 
same  time  that  the  revival  took  place  on  Corisco,  a 
similar  but  more  extensive  movement,  commenced  at 
Benita.     About  thirty  persons  had  been  organized  in  a 


CORISCO    DAYS.  lOI 

catechumen  class,  still  others  were  inquiring  and  desirous 
of  knowledge  of  the  truth.  All  this  was  bearing  upon  my 
strength,  however  joyful  it  was.  Considering  my  great 
need  of  help,  the  last  meeting  of  the  Mission  would  have 
readily  appointed  one  of  the  three  on  Corisco  to  go  to 
Benita  and  share  my  work.  It  was  thought  that  that 
could  not  be  done  without  serious  injury  to  some  under- 
takings on  Corisco.  After  some  months,  however,  it 
was  decided  to  transfer  to  Benita  not  only  one  of  the 
three,  but  to  take  his  work  along  with  him;  and,  rapidly, 
later  on,  to  place  in  native  hands  the  remaining  portion 
of  the  Corisco  work  when  the  two  other  missionaries 
should  take  their  furlough  to  America.  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
Solomon  Reutlinger,  therefore,  joined  me  at  Benita  in 
1869. 

The  Corisco  Schools  and  itinerant  works  were  grad- 
ually transferred  to  Benita;  until,  in  about  1875,  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  the  last  representatives  of  Corisco's 
white  force  (Rev.  and  Mrs.  C.  De  Heer)  to  remove  to 
Benita,  and  leave  the  Corisco  Church  and  School  in  the 
hands  of  the  native  minister,  Rev.  Mr.  Ibia,  who  carried 
them  on  faithfully  and  successfully. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
A  Life  for  the  Interior. 

AT  Benita  I  had  made  various  plans  to  carry  the 
work  of  the  Mission  to  the  inland  tribes.  The 
monopoly  of  Trade,  held  by  the  coast-tribes, 
frustrated  those  efforts,  as  far  as  a  permanent  residence 
by  any  white  missionary  was  concerned.  The  same 
native  monopoly  as  effectually  barred  all  white  traders 
from  living'  in  the  interior.  But,  the  Benita  people  had 
not  objected  to  my  placing  a  native  evangelist  at  the 
village  of  Senje,  among  the  VValenzyi  (Balengi)  tribe, 
seventeen  miles  up  river,  on  the  right  bank  and  near 
the  cataract  below  the  Yovi  Fall,  the  last  of  a  series 
made  by  the  river  as  it  breaks  through  the  Sierra  del 
Crystal  Range,  on  its  way  to  the  sea. 

When  the  Rev.  Solomon  and  Mrs.  Reutlinger  were 
transferred  from  Corisco  to  Benita  in  1869,  his  wishes 
joined  mine  in  our  hopes  for  extension  interiorward. 
He  was  not  tied  to  the  Station,  as  I  just  then  was,  by 
family  and  church  duties.  Having  a  "free  foot,"  he 
determined  to  make  a  survey  of  the  adjacent  interior. 
In  our  secret  expectation,  this  was  to  lead  to  a  perma- 
nent location  in  the  near  future,  if  Kombe  tribal  jealousy 
could  be  placated.  But,  in  the  journey,  which  I  had 
hoped  to  make  myself,  and  which  I  aided  him  in  plan- 
ning, we  had  to  promise  the  Benita  people  that  he  was 
making  only  a  tour  of  observation,  and  that  he  would 

(102) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  IO3 

return  within  a  month.     He  did  return,  but  in  a  dying 
condition. 

The  story  of  his  journey  and  its  incidents  in  detail  I 
obtained  from  his  native  employes.  I  got  statements 
from  each,  and  combined  them.  Themselves  had  kept 
no  record;  their  statements  of  dates  were  confused,  and 
Mr.  Reutlinger,  in  his  delirium,  was  unable  to  give  me 
any  data. 

1ST   DAY. 

On  Wednesday.  June  9,  1869,  Mr.  Reutlinger,  with 
Itongolo  (an  Elder)  and  wife,  Ngombalondo  (my  most 
trusted  assistant)  and  three  other  Kombe  boatmen, 
started  in  the  four-oared  gig  "Charlotte  Draper"  about 
noon:  and  early,  with  the  turn  of  the  sea-breeze,  put 
up  sail. 

He  had  been  in  ordinary  health;  though  I  knew  that 
he  needed  a  course  of  alteratives.  But,  in  starting,  he 
was  in  good  spirits.  I  saw  nothing  ill  that  day,  except 
that  there  was  a  swelling  on  his  right  temple  that  was 
pointing  like  a  common  boil.  I  observed  that  the  boat, 
after  entering  the  river  for  two  miles,  crossed  to  the 
south  side  and  stopped  for  a  little  while  at  a  Trading- 
house.  Thence,  two  canoes  w^ere  going  up  river  on 
an  errand  of  their  ow^n;  and  the  "Draper"  indulged  in 
a  friendly  race  with  them.  Beyond  this,  my  information 
is  derived  entirely  from  the  native  assistants.  In  the 
boat's  progress  there  were  no  special  incidents  except  the 
fact  that,  at  the  Island  some  eight  miles  up  river,  the 
channel  on  the  south  side  was  chosen  in  order  to  avoid 
the    Manjanga    villages    on    the    northern    side,    whose 


I04  CORISCO    DAYS. 

women  had  demanded  a  fine  for  interrupting  them  in 
some  superstitious  rites.  Opposite  the  Island,  Mr. 
Reuthnger  alighted  to  gather  some  limes  at  a  deserted 
village;  farther  on,  near  the  village  of  Chief  Isambi, 
some  canoes  of  the  Walenzyi  tribe  pursued  the  boat  until 
they  discovered  that  it  was  not  on  a  trade  journey;  (the 
Walenzyi  held  against  the  inland  tribes  the  same  jeal- 
ousy that  the  Kombe  entertained  against  themselves;) 
farther  on,  a  village  was  passed  where  was  trading  a 
Kombe  man,  Uhemba  (a  church-member),  who,  by  pre- 
vious arrangement,  had  promised  to  accompany  them 
on  the  journey;  word  was  left  for  him  to  follow  to  Old 
Senje  village,  which  was  reached  at  the  dusk  of  that 
day;  there  Itongolo  and  Ngombalondo  crossed  by  canoe 
to  New  Senje  on  the  south  side,  and  returned  with 
another  Kombe  recruit,  Njaku  (an  educated  man)  in 
time  for  the  evening  prayer  service. 

2ND    DAY. 

The  next  morning,  Thursday,  the  loth,  they  all  crossed 
in  the  boat  to  New  Senje,  where  Uhemba  was  awaiting. 
A  friend  of  Njaku,  Masa,  of  the  interior  Boheba  tribe, 
was  engaged  as  guide;  and  Masa's  two  wives  were  hired 
to  help  carry  the  baggage. 

After  an  early  breakfast,  by  8  A.  M.,  Itongolo  and  wife, 
with  the  three  Benita  crew,  left  to  return  with  the  boat 
down  river.  Mr.  Reutlinger,  with  his  company  of  four 
men  and  two  women,  started  a-foot:  on  their  way  about 
one  and  a  half  miles,  passing  the  Yovi  Falls,  and  crossing 
the  river  in  a  small  canoe  some  three  and  a  half  miles 


CORISCO    DAYS.  IO5 

above  the  Falls,  at  a  village  Ngumbi,  or  Esile.  There 
they  rested,  and  ate  a  lunch.  About  a  mile  beyond 
Ngumbi,  they  came  on  a  wide  well-cleared  path  leading 
to  a  cluster  of  huts  where  were  living  a  few  people 
guarding  their  plantations  at  night  from  depredations 
of  elephants.  There  had  some  time  before  been  an 
epidemic  of  small-pox  from  the  coast;  and  the  people 
did  not  welcome  them  fearing  that  the  coming  of  a  white 
traveler  would  bring  them  evil.  The  path  was  good, 
and  the  journey  was  continued  without  further  incident, 
except  their  coming  upon  a  very  big  hollow  tree,  inhab- 
ited by  a  species  of  very  large  bats,  which  rushed  out 
in  large  numbers,  on  Mr.  Reutlinger's  firing  into  the 
hollow. 

About  noon,  they  came  to  a  rudely-built  hut  where 
several  natives  were  extracting  a  rich  edible  oil  from  a 
winged  ant,  called  nyebi.  The  insects  were  caught  in 
enormous  numbers  in  nets  at  night,  being  attracted  by 
the  light  of  a  fire. 

The  path  became  rougher  and  steeper,  as  spurs  of  the 
mountains  were  crossed.  At  the  top  of  one  of  these 
ridges,  the  path  led  through  a  narrow  defile  between  two 
masses  of  rocks.  There  was  there  a  noticeable  stone, 
just  the  height  of  a  man's  knee  and  jutting  into  the 
path  at  a  sudden  turn.  Unless  a  traveler  was  careful 
in  making  that  turn,  he  would  be  sure  to  strike  his  knee 
against  the  rock;  which,  thence,  was  known  in  that 
region  as  lyombwi-ja-Mabanga  (Desire-for-Knees) ;  as 
if  the  rock  had  a  spiteful  wish  to  hurt  a  traveler's  shins. 
The  company  reached  a  village  Ndambu,  by  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon;  estimated  fifteen  miles  from  Senje.     A 


I06  CORISCO    DAYS. 

few  presents  were  made  to  the  chief  of  the  village,  and 
Mr.  Retitlinger  remained  for  the  night,  holding  a  prayer- 
service  in  the  evening.  Apparently,  he  was  less  wearied 
than  his  natives,  to  some  of  whom  he  gave  a  lotion  of 
tincture  of  arnica  for  their  sore  feet.  Although  it  was 
Dry  Season  at  the  coast,  rain  fell  at  night. 

3RD  DAY. 

On  Friday,  the  nth,  after  breakfast,  the  journey  was 
resumed.  The  boil  on  Mr.  Reutlinger's  temple  was 
inflamed  and  painful.  The  narrow  forest  paths  were 
rough,  and  intersected  by  many  small  mountain  streams. 

One  of  these  creeks  was  crossed  by  a  submerged  log 
instead  of  the  stepping-stones  of  the  usual  fords;  Njaku, 
at  such  places,  carried  Mr.  Reutlinger  over,  on  his 
back,  to  save  him  from  wetting  his  feet. 

Before  noon,  a  village  Membeni  was  reached.  The 
company  was  welcomed  by  the  people.  Among  other 
objects  of  interest  was  a  red  albino  woman.  Quite  a 
curiosity  to  Mr.  Reutlinger,  as  much  as  he  was  to  the 
blacks.  Albinos,  both  white  and  red,  are  not  rare  in 
West  Africa.  (Quite  distinct  from  Mulattoes.)  After 
resting,  and  lunching,  the  journey  was  resumed  to  a 
village  Medvima  by  the  middle  of  the  afternoon.  After 
eating  dinner  there,  there  still  being  so  much  of  the  day 
before  him,  Mr.  Reutlinger  wanted  to  pass  on;  but,  his 
young  men  assured  him  that  he  could  not  reach  the 
next  village  on  their  direct  route  before  night. 

Though  he  was  hospitably  received,  some  of  the  people 
feared  that  such  an  unknown  thins:  as  the  arrival  of  a 


CORISCO    DAYS.  IO7 

white  man  would  bring  desolation  to  their  land.  Others 
brought  to  him  their  young  children  to  show  them  the 
"white  Spirit/'  a  being  to  be  feared  like  their  own 
Ukuku,  (the  native  Spirit  in  whose  name  all  their  laws 
were  made,  and  by  fear  of  whom  the  obedience  of  all, 
especially  of  women  and  children,  was  compelled). 
After  preaching-service,  he  went  with  two  men  of  his 
company  on  an  excursion  from  one  side  of  the  village 
to  see  a  waterfall,  about  a  mile  distant,  that  was  much 
larger  than  the  Yovi  Cataract.  While  walking  along 
the  bank  below  the  falls,  he  slipped  into  the  boiling 
whirlpool,  and  would  have  been  carried  away  by  the 
swift  current  had  not  Ngombalondo  caught  him  with 
one  hand,  himself  holding  on  to  a  tree  with  the  other. 
Njaku  came  to  the  rescue  of  both,  and  dragged  them 
safely  onto  the  land.  This  alarmed  the  young  men, 
and,  though  Mr.  Reutlinger  was  anxious  still  to  examine 
the  falls,  they  insisted  on  his  return  to  Meduma. 

From  there,  there  still  being  daylight,  he  went  with 
the  same  two  men,  ai/other  detour  to  the  other  side  of 
the  village.  Crossing  a  creek,  he  struck  the  Bonito 
river  again,  opposite  to  an  island  so  large  that  it  was 
reported  to  be  inhabited  by  gazelles,  monkeys  and  other 
wild  animals.  The  river  there  was  very  broad;  and 
he  was  told  that  looking  up-stream  from  one  end  of 
the  island,  a  large  falls  was  to  be  seen;  and  looking 
down-stream  from  the  other  end,  there  was  another 
falls.  On  the  island  was  a  village.  Calling  to  the  vil- 
lage for  a  canoe,  one  came  paddled  by  two  women  and 
a  child.  The  canoe  was  only  a  wretched  dug-out,  with 
one  side  broken,  and  the  hole  plastered  with  clay.     It 


I08  CORISCO    DAYS. 

was  also  so  small  that  in  ferrying  Mr,  Reutlinger  and 
his  two  companions,  only  one  of  the  women  paddled; 
and  then  she  returned  for  the  other  woman  and  child. 
Mr.  Reutlinger  visited  the  village,  and  ate  of  plantains, 
fish  and  pa  (rich  gravy  made  of  an  oily  nut)  all  of  which 
was  cooked  after  his  arrival,  as  a  welcome  to  the  white 
man.  (Probably  also,  in  the  minds  of  some,  it  was 
presented  in  the  nature  of  a  sacrifice  to  the  "white 
Spirit.")  These  villagers  were  apparently  of  a  better 
class;  for,  they  had  a  house,  better  built  than  the  ordinary 
hut,  elevated  from  the  ground  on  posts,  for  the  occup- 
ancy of  their  headman.  The  company  returned  to 
Meduma  after  dark;  Mr.  Reutlinger  being  so  wearied 
that  Njaka  conducted  the  evening-prayers,  in  his  place. 
The  estimate  of  the  distances  journied  that  day  was 
twenty  miles. 

4TH  DAY. 

On  Saturday,  June  12th,  after  prayers  and  breakfast, 
the  journey  was  resumed.  A  man  from  the  Meduma 
village,  going  on  an  errand  of  his  own,  went  with  them 
to  guide  them.  On  the  way,  they  met  a  Kombe  man, 
Menanji.  who  had  come  from  the  coast  carrying  salt 
(the  most  valuable  trade  commodity)  on  business  of  his 
own,  and  who  was  on  his  way  back  to  the  coast.  He 
was  accompanied  by  two  Walenzyi  from  Senje.  These 
he  sent  on,  and  himself  turned  back  to  assist  Mr.  Reut- 
linger. There  were  many  small  affluents  of  the  Bonito 
to  be  crossed,  over  which  Mr.  Reutlinger  was  carried. 
In  one  of  them,  he  picked  up  a  stone  which  he  thought 
might  contain  valuable  ore.     Inhabitants  along  the  route 


CORISCO    DAYS.  IO9 

were  industrious,  building  fish-wiers  across  the  streams. 
After  a  while,  a  severe  rain-storm  fell  which  continued 
for  a  long  time.  The  Walenzyi  carriers  rushed  on 
ahead  to  find  shelter  in  the  next  village.  The  sea-coast 
tribes  very  much  affect  the  use  of  umbrellas.  But  Mr. 
Reutlinger  observed  that  there  was  no  use  for  them  in 
the  interior,  in  a  forest  country,  with  narrow  paths  ob- 
structed by  low  bushes.  He  reached  a  village,  Medi. 
in  the  afternoon,  rain  still  falling.  The  first  object  that 
struck  his  attention  as  he  entered  the  village,  was  a  new- 
made  grave  of  one  of  the  wives  of  the  headman,  placed 
in  the  middle  of  the  street  and  marked  by  a  little  flag. 
He  found  his  Walenzyi  deserters,  comfortably  drying 
themselves  by  the  fire  in  the  public  reception-house. 
He  changed  his  clothes;  and  then  dried  his  wet  gar- 
ments by  that  same  fire.  To  prevent  his  fire-arms 
from  rusting,  he  astonished  the  people  by  discharg- 
ing his  wet  rifle,  shot-gun  and  pistol.  To  amuse  them, 
he  directed  Xjaku  to  fire  the  rifle  at  a  distant  object  on 
a  tall  tree. 

He  gave  out  goods,  with  which  to  buy  food  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  next  day.  There  being  a  scarcity,  his  mes- 
senger had  to  go  to  search  at  other  villages.  He  and 
his  company  ate  of  fowls  bought  in  the  village.  But 
that  evening  he  was  overcome  by  fever,  and  was  not 
able  to  conduct  the  visual  prayers.  The  swelling  on 
his  right  temple  was  increased  in  size;  but,  though  con- 
taining pus,  was  not  very  painful.  The  villagers  were 
considerate,  and  acceded  to  Njaku's  request  that  they 
refrain  from  their  usual  noise,  lest  the  white  man's  sleep 
be  disturbed. 


no  CORISCO    DAYS. 


5TH  DAY. 


On  Sabbath,  June  13th,  Mr.  Reutlinger  had  a  high 
fever;  and  one  eye  was  swollen  shut.  He  lay  down 
all  day,  and  ate  but  little.  His  bread  had  become  stale, 
but  he  had  cans  of  condensed  milk.  A  fowl  was  killed, 
but  he  ate  little  of  it,  and  gave  it  to  his  people.  The 
two  young  men  held  a  service  in  the  morning.  The 
villagers  were  sympathetic  and  kind.  By  evening,  the 
other  eye  was  swollen  closed.  The  young  men  again 
held  serivce.  Men  arrived  as  visitors  from  the  village 
Mbongo,  to  which  Mr.  Reutlinger  had  looked  as  the 
limit  of  his  journey,  and  whither  had  been  carried  reports 
of  his  coming.  They  were  noisy  and  inquisitive,  and 
resented  Njaku's  rebuke,  saying  that  the  white  man, 
having  come  to  see  them,  was  theirs,  and  they  wished 
to  see  him. 

6th  day. 

On  Monday,  June  14th,  the  fever  increased;  and  he 
was  not  able  to  sit  up  or  conduct  morning  prayers. 
There  were  not  many  people  left  in  the  village,  most 
of  them  having  gone  for  the  day  to  their  usual  work 
at  their  plantations,  and  the  visitors  also  having  departed. 
Mr.  Reutlinger  ate  a  little  native  food.  Both  his  eyes 
were  so  swollen  that  he  could  scarcely  see,  so  that  he 
needed  to  be  guided  when  he  attempted  to  walk.  As 
Mr.  Reutlinger  was  requiring  no  special  attention,  Njaku 
went  hunting  for  meat  in  the  forest.  Though  the  young 
men  knew  nothing  about  diseases,  Mr.  Reutlinger,  who 


CORISCO    DAYS.  Ill 

began  to  be  anxious  about  his  condition,  (but  who  did 
not  suspect  that  it  might  be  erysipelas,)  counseled  with 
them.  When  by  themselves,  the  young  men  began 
to  think  of  the  desirability  of  sending  a  messenger  to 
the  coast  for  me  to  come  with  medicine,  the  while  they 
should  be  waiting  in  the  village. 

The  native  food  (plantains)  that  had  been  sent  for 
on  Saturday  came;  but  the  Walenzyi  who  brought  them, 
though  under  pay  as  one  of  their  porters,  demanded 
additional  share  of  the  food,  as  extra  pay.  Mr.  Reut- 
linger  found  the  stiflf  native  bed,  with  its  bamboo  slats, 
too  hard  on  which  to  lie,  and  the  space  in  the  hut  was 
too  short  in  which  to  suspend  his  hammock.  So,  he 
had  the  young  men  cut  four  stout  sticks  which  they 
stuck  into  the  ground  in  the  street  in  pairs,  tying  their 
tops  together,  and  leaving  a  crotch  in  which  a  fifth  pole 
was  laid  horizontally;  and  from  this  frame  the  ham- 
mock was  slung.  His  mind  became  a  prey  to  anxious 
thought  as  to  the  nature  of  his  sickness.  Poison  is  a 
very  common  suggestion  among  foreigners  in  Africa. 
He  was  very  tender-hearted  in  his  assurance  to  his  own 
people  that  he  did  not  suspect  them;  and  he  prayed 
w^ith  them  that  his  thoughts  might  be  calmed.  Mr. 
Reutlinger  had  studied  homeopathy,  and  had  de- 
pended solely  on  that  class  of  medicines.  He  took 
during  the  day  frequent  drops  from  a  vial  which 
the  young  men  recogni/sd  as  aconite.  At  night, 
he  was  very  restless.  Twice  he  rose,  guided  by 
Njaku,  and  went  into  the  street,  taking  with  him 
his  rifle,  as  if  he  feared  some  danger.  Rain  fell  dur- 
ing the  night. 


112  CORISCO    DAYS. 


7TH  DAY. 


On  Tuesday,  the  15th.  all  of  Mr.  Reutlinger's  symp- 
toms were  worse.  He  neither  conversed  nor  walked 
about.  He  proposed  the  sending  of  a  messenger  for 
me.  To  which  the  young  men  promptly  assented,  add- 
ing that,  as  his  case  was  getting  worse,  they  should 
at  once  bring  him  on  sea-ward  as  far  as  they  were  able, 
the  while  that  I  should  be  coming  to  meet  him.  But 
he  thought  them  unable  to  carry  him,  and  delayed  that 
day.  During  the  day,  visitors  from  other  villages  came 
to  see  him. 

8th  day. 

On  Wednesday,  the  i6th,  Mr.  Reutlinger  wrote  a  note 
to  me,  and  Menanji  with  Masa  were  sent  with  it,  and 
were  enjoined  to  hasten  with  it  to  me.  (I  do  not  know 
why  the  note  was  dated  at  Mbongo;  from  the  young 
men's  account,  he  was  still  at  Medi.)  It  stated  that  the 
swelling  on  his  head  had  increased,  and  that  he  was  not 
certain  of  its  nature;  that  he  could  not  see  to  write  with- 
out holding  up  an  eyelid;  wished  me  to  come  with  food, 
supplies,  and  hammock  bearers.  To  hasten  my  coming, 
he  added  that  on  no  account  should  Mrs.  Reutlinger 
come  with  me,  unless  I  left  her  to  await  him  at  Senje. 

Mr.  Reutlinger  then  began  his  journey  sea-ward. 
Three  Walenzyi  were  hired  in  addition  to  his  three 
Kombe  men,  as  one  of  them,  Uhemba,  had  early  broken 
down,  and  had  not  been  of  much  service  on  the  way. 
Mr.  Reutlinger  thought  Uhemba's  chest  too  weak;  but 
I  have  always  thought  he  was  indolent  and  less  devoted 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I  1 3 

than  the  other  two.  The  company  left  Medi  before 
noon.  The  bushes  were  still  wet  with  the  rain  of  the 
previous  night,  whose  drops  he  dreaded  on  his  head, 
as  he  thought  the  water  aggravated  the  inflammation; 
the  twigs  and  little  bushes  on  the  narrow  path  in  the 
forest  in  its  short  turnings  switched  his  face  already 
tender  with  the  swellings.  In  crossing  a  line  of  "Driver 
ants,"  the  bearers'  feet  disturbed  them;  some  got  into 
the  hammock  and  distressed  him  with  their  sharp  bites. 
The  three  Walenzyi  were  unaccomstomed  to  hammock 
bearing,  and  clamored  for  their  pay  before  their  work 
was  done.  Uhemba  gave  out.  And  the  work  was  left 
to  the  other  two. 

Mr.  Reutlinger  was  in  a  highly  nervous  state;  these 
annoyances  distressed  him;  besides  the  actual  pain  caused 
by  the  hammock,  in  its  swinging  from  side  to  side  with 
the  uneven  tread  of  the  two  bearers,  striking  against 
stumps,  logs  or  standing  trees.  His  bearers  knew  that 
his  excitable  state  was  due  to  his  sickness;  for,  in  health, 
Mr.  Reutlinger  was  always  mild-spoken  and  patient. 
They  reached  Meduma  in  the  afternoon.  The  young 
men  again  cut  poles  from  which  to  suspend  the  ham- 
mock. The  Meduma  people  were  not  kind;  they  were 
intrusive,  talkative,  and  noisy.  (Probably  they  were 
fearful  of  the  reported  danger  of  the  white  man's  death 
as  if  they  would  be  held  responsible  for  it.)  All  these 
noises  wearied  the  sick  man,  from  whom  his  two  faithful 
servants  could  not  hinder  the  knowledge  of  the  discus- 
sions going  on  in  the  street.  The  Medi  men  were  paid 
ofif;  and  three  Meduma  men  were  hired  for  the  next 
day.     Mr.  Reutlinger  slept  pretty  well  that  night. 


114  CORISCO    DAYS. 


9TII    DAY. 


Thursday,  the  17th:  The  company  started  early,  and 
made  no  stop  except  to  drink  at  Membeni.  The  crossing 
on  Njaku's  back,  by  the  log  over  the  creek,  was  difficult 
and  dangerous. 

The  three  Walenzyi  soon  became  tired;  and,  having 
been  paid  in  advance  (as  an  inducement  for  them  to 
work),  wanted  to  desert.  The  company  reached  Ndambu 
in  the  afternoon.  There  they  were  told  that  Menanji 
had  slept  there  on  Wednesday  night.  This  disheartened 
Mr.  Reutlinger;  for,  he  assumed  that  Menanji  would 
delay  also  at  Senje,  and  thus  would  arrive  at  the  coast 
too  late  for  me  to  come  to  him  before  the  end  of  the 
week.  He  therefore  ceased  to  expect  any  aid  from  the 
sea,  and  proposed  that  Njaku  should  leave  him,  go  on 
to  Senje  and  hire  men  from  among  the  Kombe  who 
were  trading  there;  for.  Njaku  and  the  other  two  were 
exhausted  by  their  hammock  work.  So,  Njaku  imme- 
diately walked  on  alone,  only  stopping  a  little  while  to 
eat  at  Ngumbi,  and  reached  Senje  some  time  in  that 
night. 

From  this  point,  I  take  up  the  thread  of  the  story, 
as  I  myself  laid  hold  of  it. 

Menanji  had  not  stopped  at  Senje,  but  had  come  very 
rapidly,  reached  my  house  just  before  6  P.  M.  sun-down 
that  Thursday,  17th,  and  handed  me  Mr.  Reutlinger's 
note.  Some  little  time  was  consumed  in  understanding 
the  messenger's  verbal  story,  and  in  appreciating  the 
state  of  the  case.  Menanji  was  anxious  to  return  at 
once,  on  his  own  business.     So,  a  little  food  for  Mr. 


CORISCO    DAYS.  II5 

Rcutlins^er  was  tied  up  and  sent  by  Menanji  in  advance. 
An  hour  more  was  consumed  in  selecting  and  properly 
packing  against  rain  other  supplies  and  provisions  for 
Mr.  Reutlinger  and  his  men.  In  the  meanwhile,  I  sum- 
moned a  certain  man,  hired  him.  and  sent  him  to  find 
three  others.  After  evening  prayers,  he  came  with  two; 
one  more  being  wanted  I  took  one  of  my  workmen, 
Ebapwe.  One  of  the  two,  Mweli,  showing  a  disposi- 
tion to  make  gain  of  my  necessity,  I  declined  to  take 
him;  and  one  of  my  headman  friends.  Bote,  volunteered, 
not  for  pay,  but  "for  the  pity."  We  were  off  in  the 
"Draper,"  with  the  tide  well  risen  in  our  favor,  by  9  P.  M. 
Those  four  boatmen  scarcely  slacked  on  their  oars  the 
whole  seventeen  miles  of  the  way;  though,  after  mid- 
night, I  found  my  own  eye-lids  very  heavy.  With  the 
rudder-ropes  in  my  hands.  I  was  aroused  suddenly  sev- 
eral times,  by  the  boat  rushing,  under  my  misguidance, 
among  the  thorny  pandanus  leaves  fringing  the  bank. 

lOTH  DAY. 

Friday.  June  i8th;  Though  I  had  no  watch,  I  am  sure 
it  was  not  more  than  3.30  of  Friday  morning  when  we 
reached  Senje.  Menanji  was  there,  with  the  informa- 
tion that  Njaku  had  arrived  and  had  hired  some  Kombes, 
the  bargain  with  them  being  conditioned  on  my  non- 
arrival.  Two  of  them,  Mambondo.  and  Momukuku, 
being  still  willing  to  go,  I  at  once  hired  them;  thus 
making  six  in  my  company;  had  a  few  words  of  prayer, 
and  laid  down  to  rest.  By  6.30  A.  M.,  I  was  up  again; 
a   hasty  breakfast;  and  ofT  by  7  o'clock.     Crossed  the 


Il6  CORISCO   DAYS. 

river  to  Njakii  at  New  Senje,  and  left  the  "Draper" 
there  in  care  of  his  father.  After  a  short  delay  I  started, 
with  my  six  Kombe  men  and  Njaku,  Menanji  again 
accompanying  on  business  of  his  own;  thus  making  a 
line  in  single  file  of  eight,  besides  myself.  Passed  the 
Yovi  Falls;  crossed  the  river  Ngumbi,  and  rested  there 
for  half  an  hour  while  the  men  ate.  They  did  not 
believe  1  could  endure  the  expected  rapid  journey;  and 
promised  that  they  would  bring  Mr.  Reutlinger  safely, 
if  I  would  remain  at  Ngumbi;  and  await  their  return. 
I  too  had  my  own  doubts  about  my  ability;  but  I  deter- 
mined to  go  on.  Ebapwe  was  also  already  lamed,  hav- 
ing cut  his  foot  against  a  tree-stump.  We  hastened  on 
through  the  wide  path  to  the  plantation.  There  I  felt 
so  faint,  that,  for  a  few  moments,  I  thought  seriously 
of  waiting  there,  while  the  rest  of  the  company  should  go 
on.  Farther  on,  I  drank  deeply  from  a  cold  sparkling 
brook,  and  felt  refreshed.  With  unequal  pace,  our  line 
straggled  out,  and  two  of  my  men,  being  in  the  rear, 
missed  their  way,  and,  for  a  while,  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  shouting  on  our  and  their  part  to  direct  them. 

We  hastened  on  past  the  hollow  Tree.  The  day 
was  not  rainy;  but  drops  of  rain  from  the  previous  night, 
as  they  were  brushed  ofif  from  the  bushes  lining  the 
path,  made  my  legs  wet  to  the  knees  and  my  arms  to 
the  elbows. 

Unwilling  to  lose  time,  I  ate  some  hard  biscuits  as  I 
walked;  and,  streaming  with  perspiration,  I  drank  in- 
temperately  from  every  brook.  At  the  Nyebi  Hut,  I  felt 
so  tired  on  being  told  that  we  were  only  half  way  on  our 
journey,  that  I  said  I  would  rest  there,  and  the  others 


CORTSCO    DAYS.  II/ 

should  go  on.  But,  on  second  thought,  I  saw  that 
motion  must  be  kept  up,  that  it  was  not  safe  to  sit  in 
my  wet  clothing.  On  the  top  of  the  Ridge,  I  sat  down 
on  the  "Desire-for-Knees."  I  was  so  exhausted,  that 
I  said  to  my  people  that  if  they  would  promise  to  go  on 
and  return  with  Mr.  Reutlinger  that  same  day,  I  would 
await  them  there  in  the  forest.  But  their  tired  looks 
showed  me  that  that  was  impossible;  and  I  felt  con- 
vinced that  only  example  on  my  part  would  stimulate 
them.  So,  with  desperate  energy,  I  began  to  leap  down 
the  rocks  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ridge.  When  within 
gim-sound  of  Ndambu,  I  had  Menanji  fire  his  gun  twice 
as  a  signal  to  let  Mr.  Reutlinger,  if  he  was  probably 
there,  know  of  our  coming.  Forded  a  beautiful  moun- 
tain stream  near  the  village,  which  was  reached  at  3.30 
P.  M.  Our  guns  had  been  heard,  but  were  not  recog- 
nized as  a  signal;  so  our  arrival  was  unexpected.  I 
found  Mr.  Reutlinger  lying  in  his  hammock  in  a  hut. 
His  face  and  head  were  frightfully  swollen.  His  only 
reply  to  my  salutation  was,  "O!  brother  Nassau,  how  I 
have  suflfered!"  He  wished  to  start  immediately.  But, 
we  were  so  exhausted  by  our  eighteen  hours  almost 
continuous  and  rapid  journey,  that  I  believed  we  would 
really  make  more  progress,  if  we  first  took  needed  rest. 
His  eyes  were  swollen  so  tightly  shut,  that  he  had  much 
difficulty  in  reading  a  note  I  handed  him  from  Mrs. 
Reutlinger.  I  had  never  seen  erysipelas;  but  the  name 
at  once  came  to  my  lips  when  I  saw  his  red  swollen  skin. 
His  scalp  had  a  soft  and  mushy  feeling,  from  the  under- 
lying pus  that  was  traveling  in  all  directions;  and  his 
right  temple  had  numerous  open  abscesses  from  which 


Il8  CORISCO    DAYS. 

the  white  pus  issued  on  slight  pressure.  He  drank  some 
broth  from  food  we  had  brought.  Himself  realized  that 
his  life  was  in  danger;  and.  fearing  a  determination  of 
the  disease  to  his  brain,  gave  me  a  variety  of  directions 
in  case  of  a  fatal  issue.  My  six  men  and  his  three  all 
ate  heartily  and  slept  soundly.  1  slept  in  the  little  hut 
with  him.  He  was  very  restless;  changing  his  position 
in  the  hammock;  and  rising  to  go  out  doors,  as  if 
anxious  to  commence  our  journey.  His  nervous  con- 
dition showed  itself  in  occasional  weeping.  The  rats 
in  the  hut  seemed  to  alarm  him. 


1  ITH    DAY. 

Saturday,  June  19th.  Up  by  5.30  A.  M.  daylight. 
Preparations  for  departure.  Mr.  Reutlinger  was  now 
as  anxious  to  delay,  as  he  was  on  Friday  to  be  moving. 
He  feared  that  the  rain-drops  of  the  night  on  the  bushes 
along  the  path  would  irritate  his  inflamed  face.  I  had 
to  insist  on  the  journey;  for,  to  have  waited  for  the  forest 
to  dry  would  have  required  a  delay  until  noon;  and  then 
we  could  not  have  reached  the  sea  that  day.  He  at 
first  thought  his  own  little  hammock  sufficient;  but 
accepted  the  larger  one  I  had  brought  for  him.  The 
men  worked  with  renewed  strength,  having  had  a  long 
night's  sleep  and  a  hearty  breakfast.  Menanji  w^as  re- 
warded; and  he  went  his  way  on  his  own  business  toward 
the  interior.  Some  presents  were  made  to  the  people 
of  the  village.  Not  that  they  really  deserved  them  (for, 
in  their  fear  of  sickness,  they  had  held  themselves  aloof 
from  any  assistance,  and  had  said  some  unkind  things 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I  I9 

in  our  men's  ears);  but,  for  the  two  days'  use  made  of 
their  house  by  Mr.  RoutHnger.  Our  united  company 
besides  Mr.  ReutHnger  and  myself,  consisted  of  nine 
persons,  arranged  in  order  thus: — two  with  our  luggage 
chests  slung  on  a  pole  between  them;  two  more,  empty- 
handed,  awaiting  their  turn  at  the  hammock.  (The 
passage  of  those  four  in  advance  would  probably  dis- 
lodge most  of  the  raindrops  from  the  bushes.)  Then 
came  two  men  carrying  the  hammock  slung  from  a 
pole  on  their  shoulders;  the  hammock  made  soft  with 
all  our  bedding,  and  Mr.  Reutlinger  lying  head  foremost, 
so  that  swaying  bushes  should  not  strike  him  in  the 
face.  By  his  side  strode  Njaku,  carrying  nothing  but 
a  gun,  his  sole  charge  being  to  see  that,  at  turnings, 
the  hammock  was  not  swung  violently  against  trees  or 
rocks.  Two  others  followed  behind  the  hammock, 
charged  to  assist  only  in  extricating  any  emergency, 
and  holding  themselves  ready  for  their  turn  at  the  ham- 
mock. I  brought  up  the  rear,  surveying  the  entire  line. 
We  passed  rapidly  on.  When  any  two  bearers  wearied, 
two  others  of  the  six,  in  their  turn,  stepped  in,  without 
a  moment's  delay.  Thus  we  passed,  over  rocks,  and 
streams,  and  bushes,  at  a  rate  that  put  me  on  the 
quickest  step  in  order  to  keep  up  with  the  procession. 
The  six  bearers  were  very  compassionate  and  skillful, 
avoiding,  even  in  their  rapidity,  with  a  care  that  greatly 
surprised  me,  many  obstacles,  and  expressing  sincere 
regret  when  an  unfortunate  swing  of  the  hammock  ex- 
torted from  Mr.  Reutlinger  a  cry  of  pain.  I  especially 
noticed  their  great  care  in  handling  the  hammock  while 
descending  the  rocks  of  the  Ridge.  The  bearers  of  our 
baggage  had  pushed  ahead;  and  we  found  them,  on  our 


I20  CORISCO    DAYS. 

reaching  Ngumbi,  cooking  plantains  for  the  company. 
Mr.  Reutlinger  rested  there  a  few  minutes;  and  the 
plantains  were  eaten,  while  the  entire  party  was  being 
ferried  across  the  river  in  detachments,  the  small  canoe 
having  to  return  several  times,  to  complete  the  transfer 
of  ourselves  and  our  belongings. 

We  reached  New  Senje  by  2  P.  M.:  seven  hours  con- 
tinuous rapid  travel.  Here,  Mr.  Reutlinger  wanted 
water  boiled  for  himself;  and  an  hour  passed  while  he 
stretched  himself  on  a  comfortable  bed;  changed  his 
clothes,  which  were  a  little  dampened  by  the  wet  bushes; 
drank  some  broth;  and  took  some  of  his  medicines.  I 
ate  a  hearty  dinner;  and  paid  some  little  debts  among  the 
natives.  The  two  men  I  had  hired  at  Senje,  remained 
there  with  Uhemba,  on  their  own  business.  With  the 
remainder  (my  four  and  Mr.  Reutlinger's  two)  started 
again  at  3  P.  M.  in  the  "Draper"  down  river. 

The  day  was  warm;  but  Mr.  Reutlinger's  disease  made 
him  at  times  feel  chilly;  for  which  he  was  kept  well 
covered  with  the  traveling  rugs.  He  was  disposed  to 
sleep;  but  so  nervous  that  the  conversation  of  the  crew, 
and  even  the  strokes  of  the  oars  hurt  his  feelings. 

We  rapidly  descended  with  the  current;  stopped  at  the 
river's  mouth  on  its  south  bank  to  discharge  Njaku; 
crossed  to  our  own  north  side  at  Mbade  Point;  and  had 
the  patient  safely  and  comfortably  in  bed  before  dark, 
having  made  seventeen  miles  of  river  in  less  than  four 
hours,  and  the  entire  journey,  from  Ndambu,  in  twelve 
hours  of  almost  continuous  travel. 

The  Sabbath  rest  of  the  following  day  was  refreshing. 
But    it    gave   no   hope   for    Mr.    Reutlinger's    life.     His 


CORISCO    DAYS,  121 

disease  had  progressed  too  far.  There  was  no  lack  of 
affection  and  care  and  physical  comfort.  But  he  de- 
pended on  the  system  of  remedies  in  which  he  con- 
scientiously believed,  and  which  he  prescribed  for  him- 
self until  final  delirium  prevented,  (and  indeed  made  un- 
necessary,) the  use  of  any  human  medicine. 


T 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

First  Ten  Years  of  the  Benita  Church, 

HE  second  church  of  Corisco  Presbytery,  in  order 
of  organization,  was  located  at  the  mouth  of 
the  San  Bonito  or  Eyo  River. 

I.  preparation. 


There  had  been  a  preparation  of  the  ground,  from 
which  was  to  be  gathered  its  membership.  The  Rev. 
William  Clemens,  while  residing  at  his  Alongo  Station 
on  Corisco  Island,  had  drawn  most  of  his  pupils  from 
the  region  north  of  Cape  St.  John  as  far  as  Batanga. 
That  entire  line  of  coast,  including  more  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles,  he  had  frequently  visited 
before  i860,  in  taking  his  pupils  to  and  from  their 
homes,  in  preaching  in  all  their  villages,  and  in  estab- 
lishing evangelistic  out-posts,  called  "Scripture-Readers' 
Stations,"  at  Hanje  and  Meduma  in  the  Kombe  tribe. 
Many  of  those  pupils  became  members  of  the  Corisco 
church. 

After  Mr.  Clemens'  death  in  1862,  the  work  of  itin- 
erating in  the  Benita  region  was  carried  on  by  Rev. 
J.  L.  Mackey,  Rev.  Walter  H.  Clark,  and  myself,  who, 
during  the  following  three  years,  in  succession,  visited 
those  scattered  church-members,  preached,  and  located 

(122) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  1 23 

new  evangelists,  making  out-posts  at  Aje  in  the  Bapuku 
tribe,  and  Mbini  and  Upwanjo  in  the  Kombe. 

II.    PLANTING. 

In  January,  1865,  I  yielded  to  my  beloved  friend, 
Rev.  George  Paull,  the  Board's  authority  that  had  been 
granted  to  me  to  make  the  first  Station  on  the  main- 
land. He  removed  from  Corisco,  and  located  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Bonito  River,  building  his  house  on  Mbade 
Point  and  near  the  Upwanjo  villages.  To  him  was 
given  the  superintendence  of  the  entire  field  north  of 
Cape  St.  John.  His  was  a  most  faithful  and  successful 
work.  He  had  the  advantage  of  coming  to  a  people, 
not  in  their  darkness  so  dense  that  they  did  not  under- 
stand what  he  talked  about,  but  who  had  already  heard 
just  enough  to  be  touched  by  the  earnest  pathos  of 
his  exhibition  of  the  Savior's  love.  Many  were  awak- 
ened by  him.  But  he  was  not  permitted  to  form.ally 
gather  them  in.  He  died  after  only  three  months  of 
labor  at  Benita,  and  at  the  close  of  the  first  year  of 
his  African  life. 

III.    GATHERING. 

The  ingathering  began  when  I  was  sent,  on  October 
17th,  1865,  to  take  Mr.  Paull's  vacant  place.  I  imme- 
diately formed  a  Catechumen  Inquiry  Class  of  those 
who  had  been  awakened  by  my  beloved  predecessor's 
preaching:  to  which  others  were  constantly  added. 

On  December  nth,  1865,  by  direction  of  Corisco 
Presbytery,  all  the  members  of  the  Corisco  church,  liv- 
ing north  of  Cape  St.  John,  were  set  oflf  to  constitute 


124  CORISCO    DAYS. 

the  Benita  Church,  with  myself  as  its  Stated  Supply. 
This  direction  was  carried  out  as  far  as  it  concerned  the 
members  living  at  southern  Bapuku  and  Kombe.  The 
few  who  were  then  at  Banaka  (Batanga)  were  still  re- 
tained in  connection  with  the  Corisco  church. 

The  first  Benita  Communion  was  celebrated  Decem- 
ber 31st,  1865.  In  this  first  constitution  of  the  Benita 
church,  those  who  were  set  ofif  from  the  parent  church 
numbered  eighteen,  including  one  Elder.  Their  names 
were: — Mbata,  Makendenge,  Esima,  Ngatye.  Njumba, 
Mambo.  Evemba,  Ilanga,  Etiyani,  lyanga,  Ebeva,  Raku. 
Ubomani,  males;  and  Ngolo,  Ndaga,  Bohile,  Asamba, 
Mahangwangani.  females.  It  must  be  acknowledged, 
as  a  matter  of  shame,  and  also  in  explanation  of  subse- 
quent falls  and  discipline,  that,  of  this  number,  six  were, 
at  the  time  of  their  transfer  of  membership,  under  sus- 
pension: and  their  cases  were  subsequently  prosecuted 
by  the  Benita  Session.  Their  distance  from  Corisco. 
their  having  only  occasional  public  means  of  grace,  and 
their  being  almost  without  shepherding,  were  good 
reasons  for  the  organization  of  a  church  on  whose  serv- 
ices it  was  possible  for  them  to  attend. 

IV.    ELDERS. 

The  Elder,  Njumba,  himself  was  under  suspicion. 
While  connected  with  Corisco.  he  had  twice  been 
charged  with  a  serious  offense.  Those  charges  were 
investigated,  once  by  the  Mission,  dealing  with  him  as 
an  employe;  and,  on  another  occasion,  by  the  Corisco 
Session.     In   both   cases    he   was   acquitted;   but,    sub- 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I25 

sequent  events  at  Benita  proved  that  he  was  really  gnilty, 
and  that  he  had  perjured  himself.  He  became  a  thorn 
in  the  life  of  the  Benita  church,  and  was  excommuni- 
cated. His  having  twice  been  able  to  deceive  investi- 
gating- Committees  made  the  few  who  had  been  willing 
to  appear  as  witnesses  against  him  afraid  to  do  so  again. 
Other  members,  who  themselves  had  been  hiding  sin, 
were  emboldened  by  his  success.  Also,  investigation 
had  been  all  the  more  difficult  as  long  as  they  were 
connected  with  Corisco,  more  than  fifty  miles  away 
from  observation,  instruction,  or  advice.  To  the  Elder- 
ship were  successively  elected  Etiyani-ya-Nyenje,  or- 
dained March  31st,  1867,  who  afterward  removed  to 
Corisco,  where  he  was  soon  chosen  to  the  same  office. 
(Twenty  years  later  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry, 
and  became  pastor  of  the  Bata  church,  an  off-shoot  of 
the  Benita.)  Makendenge-ma-Ekunda,  ordained  March 
31st,  1867.  His  course  was  not,  like  Etiyani's,  a  blame- 
less one.  He  several  times  subjected  himself  to  rebuke 
and  discipline.  But  the  discipline  was  always  blessed; 
and  his  life  has  been  a  useful  one.  Itongolo-ja-Ivina, 
ordained  September  26th,  1869.  He,  with  Ebuma-ya- 
Metyeba,  ordained  September  24th,  1871,  and  Mozy- 
emba-mwa-Ijabi,  ordained  October  3rd,  1875,  constituted 
the  Session  at  the  tenth  year  of  the  church's  life.  Iton- 
golo  subseciuently,  after  a  long  and  blameless  course 
of  training  as  day  laborer,  teacher,  evangelist,  candidate 
and  licentiate,  was  ordained  as  a  minister.  Cheerful- 
hearted  and  energetic,  he  was  the  most  spiritual  of  the 
native  clergymen;  and  died  Pastor  of  the  Ubenji  church 
(another  of  Benita's  oflf-shoots). 


126  CORISCO    DAYS. 


V.    FOUNDATIONS. 


I :  Action  on  Slavery.  The  very  first  action  of  the 
Benita  Session  in  December,  1865,  immediately  after 
its  organization,  was  to  make  slave-holding  a  bar  to 
membership.  Presbytery,  up  to  that  time,  had  allowed 
slave-holding  under  certain  restrictions,  its  entire  pro- 
hibition of  the  evil  being  subsequent  to  the  action  of  the 
Benita  Session. 

2:  Catechumen  Inquiry  Class.  The  reception,  and 
instruction  of  Inquirers,  had  fallen  into  irregularity, 
successive  Stated  Supplies  of  the  parent  Corisco  church 
altering  or  neglecting  the  Formula  originally  prepared 
by  the  Mission  in  its  early  history,  and  which  had  never 
been  ofificially  adopted  by  Presbytery.  On  my  initiative, 
the  Benita  Session  in  January,  1868.  overtured  a  Form, 
which  was  adopted  by  Presbytery,  directing  a  certain 
course  of  instruction  during  at  least  one  year  previous 
to  sessional  examination  for  Baptism,  and  requiring 
ability  to  read  the  native  Scriptures  (except  in  a  few 
cases  either  of  age,  impossible  distance  from  school,  or 
proved  mental  inability)  as  a  condition  for  baptism.  I 
regret  to  record  that  I  was  the  only  member  of  Pres- 
bytery who  rigidly  enforced  that  rule.  Had  it  been 
faithfully  carried  out  in  all  the  later  churches,  there 
would  have  been  less  ignorance,  and  (I  think)  less  weak- 
ness in  their  membership. 

3:  Evangelistic  out-posts  were  established  at  Senje, 
seventeen  miles  up  the  Benito  River;  and  at  Bata, 
twenty-three  miles  north  (which  subsequently  grew  to 
be  the  Bata  church). 


CORISCO    DAYS.  12/ 

4:  Marriage  Ceremony.  It  was  also  on  my  initiative 
that  the  Benita  Session,  in  January,  1870,  sent  an  over- 
ture to  the  Presbytery,  which  led  to  its  advanced  action 
on  Marriage.  Previous  to  that,  only  church  officers 
and  other  religious  teachers  had  been  required  to  receive 
a  christian  ceremony  in  marriage.  The  new  rule, insisted 
on  that  ceremony  for  all  male  church-members.  The 
native  mode  was  no  longer  to  be  accepted  as  valid, 
except  in  case  of  a  christian  woman  being  married  to 
a  non-christian.  (Women,  being  bought  and  sold  by 
the  custom  of  "Dowry,"  were  not  held  responsible  as 
christian  men  were.)  This  rule  I  rigidly  adhered  to. 
I  regret  to  record  that  it  was  not  always  carried  out, 
in  some  of  the  later  churches.  I  think  that  the  irreg- 
ularity led  to  much  laxity  as  to  the  marriage  relation; 
and  to  inconsistent,  and  sometimes  unjust  discipline  in 
the  Sessions.  I  held  the  Stated  Supplyship  uninter- 
ruptedly and  unassisted  for  six  years,  during  which  time 
there  were  added  forty-three  (of  whom  eight  by  certifi- 
cate); of  them,  thirty-two  were  males,  and  eleven  females; 
thus  making  a  church  roll  of  sixty-one.  That  the  num- 
ber was  not  greater  was  distinctly  due  to  my  insisting 
on  the  two  rules,  as  requisites  for  Baptism,  viz.  Ability 
to  read,  and  (in  case  of  the  married)  a  Christian  cere- 
mony. 

VI.    TRAINING. 

When  I  left,  on  a  furlough  to  America  in  December, 
1 87 1,  I  was  succeeded  in  charge  of  Benita  affairs  by 
Rev.  Messrs.  Samuel  H.  Murphy,  and  J.  C.  De  Bruyn- 
Kops,  the  former  of  whom  was  elected  as  Pastor  (though 


128  CORISCO    DAYS. 

never  formally  installed  by  Presbytery).  He  was  as- 
sisted frequently  in  the  pulpit  by  Mr.  Kops.  They 
both  did  well  the  work  to  which  they  were  especially 
adapted,  of  strict  discipline,  and  doctrinal  training.  The 
church  developed,  i.  It  grew  in  spiritual  strength  and 
understanding.  2.  Its  liberality  in  gifts  increased.  3. 
Efforts  for  the  evangelization  of  other  tribes  became 
more  vigorous.  4.  Thoughts  on  christian  life  and  spir- 
ituality were  quickened.  5.  Resistance  was  made  to 
the  persecution  of  Christians  by  the  heathen  superstition 
of  the  Ukuku  Society,  that  led  to  almost  its  abolition 
in  that  part  of  the  country.  No  Christian  any  longer 
feared  Ukuku.  During  Mr.  Murphy's  pastorate  of  two 
years  there  were  added  eleven  persons. 

VII.    DECLENSION. 

When  Mr.  Murphy  returned  to  America  in  February, 
1874,  he  was  succeeded  in  charge  of  Benita  affairs  by 
Rev.  Wilhelm  Schorsch,  who  was  appointed  Stated  Sup- 
ply of  the  church.  This  was  an  unfortunate  change  for 
Benita.  Mr.  Schorsch  was  of  unsovind  mind;  though 
at  first,  even  those  who  suspected  it,  covered  his  vagaries 
by  the  word  "eccentricities."  He  was  a  German,  with 
a  hearty  dislike  for  the  American  ways  with  which  the 
Benita  natives  were  familiar;  and  he  ignored  the  good 
routine  and  order  established  by  his  predecessors.  Dis- 
cipline became  lax,  or  irregular  and  arbitrary.  Admis- 
sion to  Catechumen  Class  became  so  notoriously  easy 
that  the  heathen  derided  it;  and  admission  to  Communion 
was  allowed  on  slight  examination.     The  moral  tone  of 


CORISCO    DAYS.  129 

the  church  deteriorated.  Christian  marriage  was  not 
insisted  on;  lax  views  as  to  the  Seventh  Commandment 
became  prevalent;  and  the  church  was  filled  with  bick- 
erings and  strife.  During  the  one  year  of  his  term  of 
office  there  were  admitted  to  the  church  twenty-one  per- 
sons. Mr.  Schorsch's  insanity,  having  finally  become 
patent  to  all,  he  was  removed  by  Presbytery,  from 
Benita;  and  subsequently  he  was  recalled  from  Africa 
by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions;  and  Presbytery,  in 
March,  1875,  appointed  as  Stated  Supply  in  his  place 
the  native  minister,  Rev.  Ibia  j'  Ikenge. 

VIII.    PERMANENT  GROWTH. 

Mr.  Ibia's  residence  being  at  Mbangwe  on  Corisco 
Bay,  thirty-five  miles  from  Benita,  he  attended  to  the 
duties  only  by  presiding  at  quarterly  Session  meeting 
and  Communions.  During  the  intervening  three 
months.  Elder  Itongolo,  by  Mr.  Ibia's  direction,  con- 
ducted Sabbath  Services,  Catechumen  Class,  and  weekly 
Prayer-meetings.  To  aid  him  in  which  works,  he 
frequently  used  as  exhorters,  two  of  the  ministerial 
candidates,  members  of  Miss  I.  A.  Nassau's  Bolondo 
Theological  Class.  During  Mr.  Ibia's  term  of  office,  and 
until  July,  1877,  there  were  added  to  the  membership, 
by  both  examination  and  certificate,  fifty-four  persons. 
Omitting  deaths,  excommunications,  and  removals, 
there  was,  at  that  date  of  the  ten  years  of  the  church's 
life,  a  roll  of  about  one  hundred  members.  Mr.  Ibia 
established  an  evangelistic  out-post  among  the  Evune 
tribe  north  of  Bata  (which  subsequently  grew  to  be  the 


130  CORISCO    DAYS. 

Evune  church).  Elder  Itongolo  was  faithful  and  invar- 
iable in  devotion  to  order  and  truth.  The  church  slowly 
but  decidedly  recovered  from  the  declension  into  which 
it  fell  during  Mr.  Schorsch's  time.  It  had  among  its 
causes  of  rejoicing  and  gratulation,  the  claiming  as  its 
sons,  almost  all  of  the  ministerial  candidates,  at  that 
date,  on  the  roll  of  Presbytery.  Its  money  contributions 
were  comparatively  liberal,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
its  people  received  little  aid  from  foreign  commerce, 
there  being,  at  that  time,  very  few  traders  in  that  imme- 
diate region.  Nor  did  the  gifts  of  the  only  two  mission- 
aries then  living  at  Benita  (two  ladies  at  Bolondo 
School)  appear  in  the  church  statistics;  they  making 
their  personal  annual  contributions  direct  to  treasuries 
in  America.  The  membership,  which  at  first  was  con- 
fined to  the  Kombe  of  Benita,  and  Bapuku  of  Aje,  grew 
to  include  the  tribes  beyond  Bata,  at  Evune,  and  as  far 
as  the  Banaka  at  Batanga,  eighty  miles  northward. 

After  the  first  ten  years  of  the  church's  life,  the  days 
of  preparation  and  training  were  past.  Subsequent 
Pastors,  native  and  foreign,  had  on  their  hands  a  natural 
work  of  development,  whose  processes  under  their  wise 
hands,  and  with  the  aid  of  efficient  missionary  women, 
have  made  the  Benita  church  among  the  foremost  on 
Presbytery's  roll.  From  it  grew,  by  natural  division, 
directly,  four  churches,  the  Bata,  Evune,  Myuma  and 
Batanga;  and,  from  the  Batanga,  two  churches,  Kribi 
and  Ubenji;  in  all,  six  churches  from  the  Corisco  parent. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Into  the  Sun-rise. 

THE  following  story  of  a  Happy  Death  was  written 
by  my  sister  in  1873.  I  utilized  part  of  Mato- 
mba's  life,  for  the  final  chapter  of  my  "Mawedo," 
published  in  1881. 

"In  May  of  1871  a  woman  of  the  Benga  tribe,  living 
on  the  island  of  Corisco,  began  work  among  her  heathen 
sisters,  as  Bible-woman. 

We  cannot  doubt  that  she  was  led  into  this  work  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  alone;  there  were  no  missionaries  at 
that  time  on  the  island.  She  was  the  first  woman  of 
this  tribe  to  receive  support  from  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society. 

In  Mrs.  Mackey's  school,  the  first  for  girls  in  Corisco, 
she  had  learned  to  read  in  Benga  and  English,  becoming 
also  efficient  with  her  needle.  A  life  of  varied  and  bitter 
trials,  such  as  only  heathen  women  know,  intervened 
between  her  leaving  the  Mission  School  and  about  three 
years  since  her  public  profession  of  her  faith  in  Christ. 
Her  heart,  filled  with  new,  fresh  love  for  the  Master, 
was  asking,  "Lord!  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?" 
when,  in  May  of  '71,  a  letter  of  the  Foreign  Cor.  Secre- 
tary of  the  Philadelphia  Women's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  with  its  overwhelming  gift  of  love,  and  hope, 
and  strength,  reached  me  at  Libreville,  asking,  "Who 
are  your  Bible-women?     We  will  aid  them!"     Matomba, 

(131) 


132  CORISCO    DAYS. 

already    self-consecrated,    was   chosen,   and,    under   the 
superintendence  of  the  native  pastor,  began  her  work. 

About  a  year  afterward,  she  wrote  me,  "Since  I  have 
been  put  in  this  work,  I  find  it  good.  I  hope  I  may 
be  chosen  by  God,  as  I  have  by  men."  How  she  was 
enabled  to  do  it,  in  the  sight  of  her  heathen  people,  and 
what  was  the  witnessing  of  the  Spirit  in  her  happy  heart, 
let  me  ask  you  to  judge  by  the  following  extract  from 
a  letter  of  Mrs.  De  Heer,  who  returned  to  Corisco  (from 
her  furlough  in  the  U.  S.)  in  March  '^2,  and  who  wrote 
thus  to  me  in  November  last:  "I  should  not  perhaps 
write  you  so  soon  again,  but  you  ask  what  I  can  tell 
you  of  Matomba,  and  I  hasten  to  tell  you  the  last  that 
you  or  I  shall  know  of  her  on  earth ;  for,  her  work  here 
is  finished,  and  she  has  gone,  as  we  trust,  to  her  reward, 
leaving  behind  a  beautiful  dying  testimony.  Her  works 
do  follow  her.  Hers  was  a  triumphant,  happy  death-bed; 
and  when  we  heard  her  dying  words  to  those  who  stood 
about  her,  "Diyakani  bwamu"  (fare  ye  well),  "Kamakide 
Anyambe"  (Believe  in  God),  "Heven  e  ndi  hwei" 
(Heaven,  it  is  calm),  "Mba'landi  na  mbya"  (I  am  going 
with  joy),  we  could  not  help  feeling  that  the  ransom 
of  her  soul  was  ample  reward  for  all  the  toil  and  care 
expended  here.  You  know  she  was  frail;  you  know  her 
doubly-heathen  husband  had  put  her  away  because  she 
was  not  well  and  strong.  For  the  last  month  of  her 
life  her  disease  grew,  and  she  was  unfit  for  regular 
labor;  but  all  bear  witness  to  her  increasing  zeal  and 
earnestness  in  warning  and  inviting  sinners  to  come  to 
Jesus.  When  told  that  she  would  injure  herself  by  so 
much  talking,  she  answered,  "Something  tells  me  that 


CORISCO    DAYS.  133 

I  must  talk."  "Well,  then,  talk  more  quietly."  "That 
I  cannot  do,  for  I  am  too  much  in  earnest  and  cannot 
contain  myself."  "While  I  was  musing  the  fire  burned" 
were  the  words  that  came  to  my  mind  with  force.  She 
seemed  unable  to  suppress  her  feelings,  they  zvould  find 
vent  in  words.  One  week  since,  Mrs.  Reutlinger  and 
I  gathered  all  the  Christian  women  in  a  prayer  meeting. 
Matomba's  name  and  praises  were  on  every  lip.  Her 
words  follow  her.  Said  one  woman,  "Mbu  yowe,  ho  na 
manga  mabali  nV  iwedo  (I  did  not  know  we  have  two 
kinds  of  death)  but  I  have  seen  the  heathen  die,  have 
heard  him  cry  in  despair  to  those  about,  to  save  him ;  and 
I  saw  Matomba  die,  fall  asleep  as  peacefully  as  this 
child  I  hold  in  my  arms."  They  did  not  mourn  for  her, 
seemed  to  think  they  must  not.  One  said  to  me,  "Ipa- 
Iwanide  i  na  ngebe,  ndi  hanga  o  pel'  'aju"  (parting  is  with 
sorrow,  but  not  for  her).' 

A  record  of  a  brief,  but  blessed  work  for  Jesus  among 
heathen  women! 

For  those  who  sowed  the  seed,  how  full  and  rich  the 
gathered  sheaves  in  their  eternal  harvest  home!  For 
those  who  still  sow  beside  those  waters,  what  thrilling 
words  of  cheer." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  Town  of  Libreville. 

SHORTLY  after  the  location  of  the  Gaboon  Mis- 
sion in  June  1842,  by  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  France, 
under  the  government  of  Louis  PhiHppe,  deter- 
mined to  gain  a  footing  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa 
at  the  equator.  With  legal  documents  prepared,  French 
naval  vessels  entered  the  Gaboon  river,  and,  inviting 
on  board  the  chiefs  of  the  Mpongwe  tribe,  distributed 
to  them  presents,  feasted  them,  and  prevailed  on  them 
to  set  up  on  shore  the  French  flag  and  to  sign  docu- 
ments accepting  a  protectorate  from  France,  in  con- 
sideration of  an  annual  payment  of  a  certain  sum  of 
money.  I  doubt  whether  the  chiefs,  acute  as  they  are, 
were  sufficiently  sober  after  the  feast  to  know  the  full 
import  of  what  they  were  doing.  At  least  one  of  them, 
whose  intelligence  and  force  of  character  really  entitled 
him  to  the  name  of  "king,"  while  he  was  wise  enough 
to  do  nothing  that  would  incur  punishment,  never  fully 
acknowledged  the  P'rench  authority.  The  mass  of  the 
people  objected,  but  were  compelled  to  submit,  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet  and  under  the  bombardment  of 
guns,  some  of  whose  missiles  fell  around  our  Baraka 
mission  premises. 

One  of  the  chiefs.  King  William,  or  Roi  Denis,  as 
the  French  called  him,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river, 
received  visitors  with  an  incongruous  mixture  of  foreign 

(134) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  135 

dignity  and  native  simplicity,  foreign  furniture  and  native 
hut.  foreign  style  and  native  poverty.  He  conversed 
fluently  in  French,  arid  readily  in  English;  and,  during 
the  Franco-Prussian  war,  displayed  an  amazing  knowl- 
edge of  European  geography  and  politics.  He  showed 
to  visitors  a  handsome  ducal  coronet  and  medal  pre- 
sented by  H.  B.  M.  Queen  Victoria,  for  his  noble  and 
efficient  interposition  in  saving  the  lives  of  some  wrecked 
British  sailors  who  had  fallen  into  evil  native  hands  in 
an  adjoining  tribe.  Once  a  year,  he  and  the  represen- 
tatives or  sons  of  the  original  proprietors,  went  in  mass 
to  the  office  of  the  French  government  to  receive  their 
annual  pension.  The  native  attempt  at  pronunciation 
of  that  word  is  "pago,"  and  native  pride  looks  upon  it 
as  tribute  paid  by  France  to  Mpongwe  worth.  So  "pago" 
is  the  word  we  used  for  "tax." 

A  picture,  accurately  taken,  of  the  town  of  Libreville, 
would  include  the  French  government  buildings  and 
naval  depot.  The  site  is  twelve  miles  up  the  mouth  of 
the  Gaboon  river,  two  miles  below  the  Baraka  mission 
hill;  and,  that  portion  of  the  country,  being  an  open 
and  gently  undulating  prairie,  is  called  "the  Plateau." 
In  front,  is  a  roadway  on  the  quay,  which  is  part  of  the 
wall  of  a  water-battery,  commonly  called  by  the  natives 
"the  fort."  The  smooth  beach  slopes  very  gradually 
from  the  water's  edge  some  dozen  yards  or  more  to  the 
government  boat-house  and  coal-sheds.  Behind,  there 
is  a  dense  mass  of  guava  and  other  bushes.  On  the 
right,  are  the  long  one-storied  naval  stores  and  repair- 
shops.  Back,  are  two  handsome  buildings;  one,  from 
which  always  floats  the  flag,   contains  the   Post-office, 


136  CORISCO   DAYS. 

Marine,  Military,  and  Custom  offices,  clerks'  offices, 
and  reception-room  of  the  Commandant  of  the  station, 
who,  in  the  absence  of  the  admiral  commanding,  is  the 
acting  Governor  of  the  colony;  the  other  is  the  Hospital. 
To  the  left,  is  the  arsenal ;  and  a  building  with  wide 
veranda  is  the  officers'  quarters.  A  long  low  building 
in  the  corner  is  a  cafe  and  billiard  saloon.  Admirably 
interspersed  are  trees.  In  the  foreground  are  graceful 
coco  and  other  palms,  and  the  broad  wind-torn  leaves 
of  the  plantain;  and  the  graveled  road  smoothly  graded 
rises  slowly  up  from  the  quay  in  the  centre  of  the 
parade-ground  through  avenues  of  dense  and  close- 
trimmed  mango  trees.  The  soldiers'  barracks  are  out 
of  sight  back  of  the  hospital  and  department;  and,  in 
their  rear,  looms  up  the  stately  forest.  These  houses 
are  of  stone  covered  with  white  plaster.  They  are  cool 
but  damp,  and  do  not  exclude  the  inevitable  white  ant 
which  slowly  eats  out  the  joists  of  the  floors.  Iron  has 
been  substituted  in  some  rooms.  If  the  water-front  were 
included  in  the  view,  there  would  be  seen  several  trans- 
ports unloading  provisions  and  naval  stores  and  coals, 
perhaps  an  English  or  German  steamer,  and  French 
steamers  waiting  orders  on  the  admiral's  quarterly  visit. 
The  government  offices  ashore  give  employment  to 
about  fifty  Frenchmen;  and  there  are  French  private 
trading-houses  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  "Governor's" 
house.  Just  to  the  left,  after  passing  the  officers'  quar- 
ters, you  would  come  to  the  Roman  Catholic  school  of 
Sisters  of  Charity,  where,  kept  somewhat  in  the  seclusion 
of  a  nunnery,  are  some  fifty  girls,  and  Cathedral;  and, 
a  half  mile  farther  down  the  river,  passing  through  a 


CORISCO    DAYS.  137 

village  of  native  refugees  and  re-captives,  are  the  parish 
church,  and  boys'  school,  and  priests'  houses.  There 
are  about  one  hundred  boys  in  their  school.  The  whole 
settlement  strikes  the  visitor,  as  he  sails  up  the  river, 
as  very  beautiful.  Entering  the  river  by  Point  Clara, 
the  distant  smoke-stacks  of  the  steamers  are  seen,  their 
clouds  of  smoke  look  and  smell  very  civilized  to  one 
coming  from  the  seclusion  of  Corisco  or  the  wilds  of 
Benita.  On  nearing  the  Plateau,  as  the  outlines  of  the 
marble-like  walls  of  the  government-houses,  glittering 
white  in  the  tropical  sun,  grow  in  the  view,  the  eye 
rests  on  them  longingly,  in  memory  of  walls  and  homes 
and  occupations,  and  white  faces  left  behind,  and  one 
pants  for  the  air  and  hungers  for  the  social  food  of 
civilization,  the  little  oasis  of  which  before  yovi  is  so 
sharply  contrasted  with  the  degradation  that  walks 
through  its  path  and  lives  by  its  side.  I  consider  that 
French  naval  station,  on  the  whole,  a  source  of  comfort. 
But  it  would  be  more  a  comfort  if  it  were  more  moral. 
Among  all  those  men  there  are,  besides  the  Sisters  of 
Charity,  not  a  dozen  white  women.  And  its  mission 
schools  would  be  nobler,  if,  instead  of  being  Roman 
Catholic,  they  were  Catholic. 

The  French  Jesuit  schools  are  outwardly  prosperous. 
During  the  Franco-Prussian  war  they  were  reduced  for 
want  of  means;  but  they  soon  recovered  their  force, 
both  of  teachers  and  pupils,  and  with  financial  and 
political  power.  Exiled  Alsacian  priests  here  found  a 
refuge.  There  were  some  ten  male  and  female  white 
teachers.  They  attracted  the  children  by  their  ample 
accommodations,   not   depending,   as  our   Mission   did, 


138  CORISCO    DAYS. 

on  native  food  for  their  pupils,  but  keeping  on  hand 
salt  beef  and  rice.  To  hungry  natives  this  is  a  great 
matter.  Those  Jesuits  bear  our  Protestant  schools  no 
love.  In  1871  when  Rev.  Wm.  Walker,  the  sole  male 
member  of  the  old  Gaboon  mission  then  present  on  the 
ground,  was  compelled  to  leave  for  health,  it  was  neces- 
sary for  me  to  close  Benita  and  occupy  Baraka,  until 
Rev.  Dr.  Bushnell  should  return  from  his  furlough,  lest 
the  French  should  claim  it  as  abandoned  property.  The 
priests  had  been  secretly  inspecting  our  premises,  and 
had  been  overheard  to  say  they  would  soon  be  theirs. 
Our  intercourse  with  them  is  but  slight.  Occasionally, 
the  Sisters  have  stopped  at  Baraka,  apparently  on  a 
visit  of  courtesy.  We,  on  excursions,  have  in  curiosity 
entered  their  church  and  school-yard.  At  such  times 
the  Sisters  expose  for  sale  artificial  flowers  of  their  own 
making.  On  one  occasion,  after  stating  in  reply  to  a 
question  by  a  priest,  that  I  was  a  "Catholic,"  though 
I  declined  polemics,  I  escaped  an  offensive  dissertation 
from  him  on  ecclesiastical  history,  only  by  making  a 
departure  as  hasty  as  was  consistent  with  politeness. 
Discussion  would  have  gained  nothing.  The  priests 
were  active  among  the  people.  One  of  them  was  spe- 
cially occupied  in  visiting  and  baptizing  all  who  would 
receive  baptism.  The  natives  formerly  used  coffins  in 
the  burial  of  only  their  great  men;  now  they  all  want 
such  burial.  The  priests  furnished  coffins  for  all  who 
accepted  baptism,  which  they  performed  even  post- 
mortem. Their  instructions  have  small  effect  on  the 
lives  of  the  people,  who  see  but  little  radical  difiference 
between   their  own   sorcerer   doctors'   and   the   priests' 


^  CORISCO    DAYS.  I39 

ceremonies.  Instead  of  the  fetish  is  substituted  the 
image  of  the  Virgin,  which,  almost  in  the  words  of  the 
fetish-doctor,  they  are  told  ''will  keep  off  evil."  One 
great  obstacle  to  us,  polygamy,  was  permitted  by  them. 
The  Sabbath,  after  morning  mass,  was  holiday,  the 
priests  playing  games  with  their  pupils.  So,  about  the 
only  new  thing  their  religion  introduces  is  the  confes- 
sional; and  its  duties  are  easily  accomplished.  Never- 
theless, they  do  teach  a  habit  of  prayer,  which,  though 
its  object  is  perverted,  is  useful  when  some  of  their 
members  have  come  into  our  communion.  And  they 
wisely  have  attached  to  their  schools,  carpenter  and 
other  shops,  where  the  natives  are  taught  industry. 
They  are  aids  in  civilization,  and,  on  that  ground,  I  met 
the  Spanish  priest  at  Corisco.  But  they  are  a  bar  to 
our  religious  work.  Our  books  are  not  permitted  in 
the  hands  of  their  pupils  or  employees,  and  our  motives, 
characters,  and  instructions  are  misrepresented. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
A  Trading  Settlement. 

IN  the  region  of  Gaboon  River  and  Corisco  Island, 
and,  indeed,  all  along  the  entire  West  Coast  of 
Africa,  British,  German,  French,  Spanish,  Portu- 
guese and  American  merchants  have  sent  young  men  to 
trade  with  the  natives  for  the  palm-oil,  india-rubber, 
ebony,  ivory,  copal  and  other  gums  and  riches  of  that 
beautiful  land.  In  exchange  for  these,  they  carry  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  all  kinds  of 
earthenware,  ironware,  brass  kettles  and  rods,  guns, 
powder,  tobacco,  trinkets  such  as  beads,  little  mirrors, 
cotton  cloths  and  rum.  These  gentlemen  trade  very 
unwisely.  They  "trust"  those  degraded  natives  more 
than  they  would  an  honest  man  in  their  own  countries. 
They  gave  out  to  any  body,  without  any  security,  five, 
ten,  or  one  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  goods  in  advance, 
and  then  waited  for  its  return  in  ivory,  or  palm-oil,  etc., 
which  never  did  all  come  in.  But,  the  retailed  price 
of  the  foreign  goods  to  the  native  was  so  very  much 
greater  than  the  invoiced  wholesale  price  that  the  losses 
were  covered,  and  the  merchants  became  rich.  With 
such  a  credit  business,  the  natives  became  worse  thieves 
and  liars  that  they  were  originally.  If  it  were  not  for 
their  rum  and  this  trust  system,  the  traders  would  be  a 
real  help  to  civilization,  and  missionaries  could  more 
enjoy  looking  at  their  busy  work  and  visiting  their  large 

(140) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I4I 

houses.  Goin^  to  a  typical  Trading-house  (or  "Factory" 
as  they  are  called),  there  would  be  seen  a  tall  flag-staff, 
from  which  floats  the  flag  of  the  owner's  country,  as  a 
legal  protection  for  himself,  and  also  as  a  signal  to 
vessels  entering  the  harbor.  Tall  trees,  some  of  which 
are  as  much  as  eight  feet  in  diameter  at  their  base,  were 
left  when  the  forest  was  cleared  away,  as  landmarks 
for  ships  to  sight  and  anchor  by.  There  would  be 
also  a  long  row  of  one-story  houses  and  huts  of  bamboo- 
palm,  dwelling-houses,  store  for  goods,  storehouse  for 
rubber,  ivory,  etc.,  sheds  for  the  dyewoods  and  boats, 
huts  for  the  large  company  of  boatmen,  porters,  and 
other  servants;  pens  for  the  goats  and  chickens  which 
supply  the  meat  for  the  establishment.  Perhaps  a  pali- 
saded fence  runs  around  the  premises,  as  a  protection 
against  trespassers.  Some  of  the  traders,  with  a  taste 
for  flowers,  have  a  door-yard  with  roses,  and  other 
flowering  plants,  and  fruit  trees.  If  no  other  trees, 
everywhere  would  be  seen  coco-palms,  in  different  stages 
of  growth. 

Outside,  on  the  beach  would  be  boats  and  canoes. 
These  are  abused  by  reckless  usage;  and  generally  there 
would  be  some  carpenter  at  work,  mending,  or  caulking 
and  painting.  At  almost  all  trading-houses  of  any  stand- 
ing, the  traders  keep,  besides  their  other  boats  intended 
for  rough  usage,  a  handsome  one,  like  a  captain's  gig, 
for  their  conventional  visits  to  the  steamers  and  other 
vessels  in  port.  The  native  canoes,  used  only  for  freight, 
are  many  of  them  sixty  feet  long,  and  four  feet  wide. 
They  carry  heavy  loads  of  boxes,  crates,  barrels  and 
hogsheads.     When  the  tide  is  out,  people  enjoy  strolling 


142  CORISCO    DAYS. 

on  the  wide  smooth  sandy  beach.  With  native  care- 
lessness, canoes  are  permitted  to  lie  too  near  the  water's 
edge,  where,  at  each  wave,  they  are  beaten  up  and  down 
with  the  changing  tide;  or  wear  themselves  out  on  the 
rocks;  because  the  white  owner  has  been  too  busy  to 
see,  and  the  native  employe  too  indolent  to  care  for  the 
property. 

Fishing  canoes  are  generally  in  sight  on  the  water, 
whether  it  be  of  the  sea,  or  of  the  broad  rivers  that 
look  down  and  out  to  the  wide  heaving  ocean. 

Merchants  have  no  difficulty  in  getting  young  men 
and  even  half-grown  lads  to  go  out  there,  to  buy  and 
sell,  with  a  chance  to  get  rich,  even  if  they  do  get  sick 
with  fever,  and  die.  They  do  not  complain;  and  their 
parents  are  willing.  Why  should  Christian  parents  be 
unwilling,  or  think  it  too  hard  to  allow  their  sons  and 
daughters  to  go  there,  for  a  nobler  service? 


CHAPTER  XX. 
A  Communion  Service  at  Baraka. 

IN  my  frequent  visits  to  the  Baraka  house  at  Libre- 
ville, Gaboon,  from  Corisco  and  Benita.  I  was  some- 
times present  on  Sacrament  days  of  the  Gaboon 
church.  Its  Pastor,  Rev.  Albert  Bushnell,  D.D..  wrote 
of  one  such  occasion  in  December  1871 : — 

"It  is  a  delightful  privilege  for  Christians  to  sit  to- 
gether in  heavenly  places,  in  Christ,  anywhere  on  earth, 
in  such  anticipation  of  the  upper  meeting;  but,  when 
they  sit  around  His  table  on  missionary  ground,  sur- 
rounded by  heathenish  darkness.  He  manifests  himself 
to  them  in  a  manner,  exceedingly  near  and  precious. 
Such  was  our  experience  yesterday.  The  week  before, 
had  been  one  of  preparation  for  the  solemn  day.  Day- 
dawn  morning  prayer-meetings  had  been  w^ell  attended, 
and  the  evenings  had  been  passed  in  patiently  examining 
persons  who  desired  to  profess  their  faith  in  Jesus.  At 
one  of  the  evening  meetings,  the  ordination  of  a  native 
ruling  elder  was  an  occasion  of  new  and  deep  interest. 
From  the  thirty  applicants  for  baptism,  thirteen  were 
received  by  the  Session,  and  the  other  seventeen  were 
asked  to  wait  for  further  instruction  and  longer  expe- 
rience. 

"How  calm  and  beautiful,"  the  Sabbath  dawned;  with 
its  first  rays,  a  crowd  assembled  at  the  place  of  prayer, 
and  poured  out  their  hearts  to  God  in  supplication  and 
thanksgiving,  and  exhorted  each  other  to  diligence  and 

(143) 


144  CORISCO    DAYS. 

fidelity  to  the  Master  who  had  purchased  them  with  His 
own  precious  blood. 

At  eight  o'clock,  the  candidates  for  baptism  assembled 
in  the  pastor's  study,  for  words  of  direction  and  instruc- 
tion in  reference  to  the  solemn  vows  they  were  soon  to 
take.  At  ten  o'clock,  the  Session  and  male  members 
of  the  church  met  in  the  same  place  for  special  prayer 
to  God  for  His  presence  and  special  blessing  in  the 
solemnities  of  the  sanctuary.  At  half-past  ten  o'clock 
the  chapel  doors  were  thrown  open,  and  soon  the  con- 
secrated place  was  filled,  and  extra  seats  were  brought 
from  the  school-rooms,  such  a  crowd  had  never  been 
there  before.  Before  the  sermon,  three  were  received 
by  letter;  and  thirteen  by  profession,  eleven  of  whom 
received  the  rite  of  baptism.  As  they  went  forward  to  the 
altar,  two  verses  of  the  hymn  commencing,  "O!  happy 
day  that  fixed  my  choice,"  were  sung;  and,  as  they 
retired  to  their  seats,  the  remaining  verses  commencing, 
"Tis  done,  the  great  transaction's  done, "were  sung  with 
exulting  hearts  and  voices.  The  sermon  in  Mpongwe, 
from  Matt.  X.  32,  was  followed  by  a  solemn  appeal  in 
English  from  the  following  verse,  on  the  danger  of  deny- 
ing Christ,  quite  a  number  of  white  men  of  different 
nationalities  being  present. 

At  half-past  two  o'clock,  P.  M.,  the  pupils  of  the  Girls' 
Boarding  School  and  the  native  female  Christians  held 
a  prayer-meeting  under  the  direction  of  Mrs.  Bushnell, 
and  the  boys  assembled  in  their  school-room  for  the 
same  purpose;  a  voice  of  prayer  and  praise  mingling 
from  the  two  opposite  points,  was  a  sound  that  might 
cause  angels  to  rejoice. 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I45 

At  half-past  three  o'clock,  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  administered  in  the  chapel  after  the  sermon, 
and  the  baptism  of  an  infant  of  one  of  the  newly  made 
members,  in  the  presence  of  an  interested  congregation, 
many  of  whom  hope  at  the  next  similar  season  to  be 
thankful  participants.  It  was  an  occasion  of  deep  and 
tender  interest,  and  of  thankful  joy  that  the  number  of 
communicants,  was  just  three  times  as  many  as  were 
present  at  the  last  communion,  three  months  ago. 

In  the  evening,  the  Monthly  Concert  of  Prayer  was 
held  in  the  chapel,  the  place  where  it  had  usually  been 
held  being  too  strait,  and  every  moment  was  occupied, 
sometimes  several  rising  at  the  same  time.  Strange 
that  it  should  be  difficult  to  keep  up  our  interesting 
Monthly  Concert  in  any  church  in  Christendom!  Cheer- 
ing reports  were  made  from  Corisco,  where  "sinners 
are  turning  unto  the  Lord,"  and  where  Rev.  Mr.  Ibia 
says  the  women  are  taking  the  lead  in  religious  things; 
from  Nengenenge  up  the  Gaboon  river  where  our  native 
evangelist  is  laboring  among  the  cannibal  Fangwes;  and 
from  old  Calabar,  where  another  dear  Scotch  missionary 
has  recently  ceased  from  his  labors,  and  entered  into 
rest;  and  from  other  places.  These  Ethiopian  converts 
were  as  ready  to  give  as  to  talk  and  pray.  Several  of 
them  who  labor  for  $3,  per  month,  gave  one-third  of 
their  last  month's  wages.  The  amount  collected  yester- 
day was  $23.50,  which  will  be  transmitted  to  the  Mission 
House,  New  York  City." 


CHAPTER  XXL 

The  First  Thirty  Years  of  the  West  Africa 
Mission. 

I.  Work  of  the  Mission. 

I.  name. 

THE  Gaboon  Mission,  established  in  June,  1842, 
by  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  and  the  Corisco  Mission, 
in  1849,  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  working  together  side  by  side,  and  practically 
one,  became  one,  on  the  occasion  of  the  union  of  the 
Old  and  New  Presbyterian  Bodies,  in  1870.  The  New 
School  brethren,  who  had  been  the  principal  supporters 
of  the  Gaboon,  wished  to  retain  a  mission,  whose  mem- 
ories were  sacred  to  them;  and  it  was  harmoniously 
handed  by  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  to  the  Presbyterian  Board. 
The  united  Mission,  retaining  the  names  of  its  constit- 
uents, was  known  then  as  the  Gaboon  and  Corisco 
Mission.  Its  history  claims,  in  common,  whatever  was 
once  singular  and  separate. 

At  a  later  date,  the  name  was  changed  to  "West  Africa 
Mission." 

2.  location. 

T  may  say,  therefore,  that  the  Mission  was  founded 
on  the  west-coast  of  Africa  at  the  town  of  Libreville  in 
the  Gaboon  River,  among  the  Mpongwe  tribe,  at  Baraka 

(146) 


CORISCO   DAYS.  I47 

Station,  23  miles  north  of  the  Equator,  and  12  miles  up 
the  river  from  Point  Clara  (the  cape  on  the  right  bank 
of  its  mouth),  by  Revs.  John  Leighton  Wilson  and 
Benjamin  Griswold,  on  their  landing  there,  June  22nd, 
1842.  They  were  immediately  followed  on  December 
I,  by  Rev.  William  Walker  and  Mrs.  A.  E.  Wilson. 

3.    REINFORCEMENTS. 

From  time  to  time  were  sent  reinforcements  of  men 
and  women,  of  varying  endowments  of  mind  and  spirit, 
and  with  different  physical  constitutions.  In  a  land  of 
narrow  comfort  and  untried  climate, '  some  were  cut 
down  early.  Others,  for  various  reasons  (not  all  for  ill- 
health)  returned,  and  are  still  living  in  America.  In 
this  review,  omitting  to  mention  the  names  of  arrivals  too 
recent  for  history,  and  of  others  whose  lives,  however 
beautiful,  or  residences,  however  useful,  were  painfully 
short,  the  list  of  those  sent  out  during  the  thirty  years 
since  the  original  founders,  would  include  the  names  of 
Bushnell,  Preston,  Best,  Mackey,  Ford,  Porter,  Mc- 
Queen, Pierce,  Herrick,  Clemens,  DeHeer,  Adams, 
Loomis,  Ogden,  Clark,  Nassau,  Paull,  Reutlinger, 
Murphy.  Kops  and  Gillespie. 

But  the  history  of  that  Mission  in  its  first  30  years, 
could  be  grouped  around  the  names  of  a  few  whose  lives 
cover,  at  its  three  principal  stations,  its  entire  existence. 
At  Baraka,  Revs.  J.  L.  Wilson,  D.D.,  William  Walker, 
and  A.  Bushnell,  D.D.,  and  their  wives;  on  Corisco, 
Revs.  J.  L.  Mackey  and  C.  DeHeer,  and  their  wives; 
and  at  Benita,  Rev.  George  Paull;  and  Rev.  Messrs. 
Nassau,  and  Murphy  and  their  wives. 


148  CORISCO    DAYS. 

4.    STATIONS. 

Various  attempts  at  enlargement  were  made:  From 
the  original  Baraka  Station  at  Libreville  up  the  Gaboon 
river  to  Ozyunga,  3  miles;  to  Olendebenk,  on  the  Ikai 
Creek,  amonp:  the  Bakele  tribe,  25  miles;  to  Nengenenge. 
60  miles;  and  two  native  sub-stations  in  the  Orungu  and 
Fangwe  tribes.  The  principal  Corisco  station,  Evan- 
gasimba,  among  the  Benga  tribe,  in  1849,  north  of 
Gaboon  40  miles;  and  thence  Ugobi,  Alongo,  and  five 
native  sub-stations  in  the  Benga,  Mbiko,  and  Bapuku 
tribes.  Mbade  at  Benita,  90  miles  north  of  Gaboon 
among  the  Kombe  tribe,  in  January,  1865,  thence  Bol- 
ondo;  and  four  native  sub-stations  in  the  Kombe  and 
Balengi  tribes.  These  native  out-stations  have  mostly 
been  sustained,  even  in  adverse  times.  But,  in  some  of 
the  dark  hours  that  were  permitted  to  come,  there  have 
been  reductions  even  of  principal  Stations;  so  that,  at 
the  end  of  the  30  years  there  were  of  the  latter,  only 
Baraka,  occupied  by  Rev.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bushnell  and 
two  unmarried  ladies  and  Rev.  S.  L.  Gillespie;  Alongo, 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  DeHeer;  Mbade  and  Bolondo,  Rev. 
Messrs.  Murphy  and  Kops  and  their  wives. 

5.    SCHOOLS. 

Schools  were  gathered  at  almost  every  Mission-house, 
even  of  the  native  agents, — the  principal  success  being 
at  the  Baraka  Boys'  and  Girls'  Seminary,  under  the  care 
successively  of  Revs.  Messrs.  Walker,  Preston,  Bushnell, 
and  their  wives;  the  Boys'  School  at  Alongo,  succes- 
sively under  the  care  of  Revs.  Messrs.  Clemens.  Clark, 
and  DeHeer  and  their  wives;  and  the  Girls'  School  at 


COR  I  SCO    DAYS.  149 

Evangasimba.  under  the  care  successively  of  Mrs. 
Mackey,  Mrs.  Ogdeii,  and  Mrs.  M.  C.  Nassau. 

Parents  were  ready,  from  the  first,  to  send  boys  to 
school;  for,  they  recognized  the  pecuniary  advantage 
accruing  to  them  from  their  sons  having  an  education 
which  could  be  diverted  to  uses  of  trade.  But  they 
objected  to  their  girls  being  educated;  they  needed  their 
service  too  constantly  in  the  numerous  works  that  fill 
a  Guinea  woman's  lot,  as  daughter  or  w^fe  (in  either 
case,  a  servant  and  slave);  and  they  did  not  wish  women 
to  obtain  those  civilized  ideas  of  woman's  right  and 
dignity  which  would  make  them  less  submissive  servants. 

There  were  boarding-schools,  where  the  food  and 
clothing  provided  by  the  Mission  was  not  only  an  in- 
ducement to  parents  to  send,  but  (at  that  time)  a  neces- 
sary part  of  our  plan  to  separate  the  children  as  much 
as  possible  from  the  evil  influences  of  their  heathen 
homes  and  villages.  The  exercises  of  the  schools  were 
not  simply  literary,  they  included  industrial  work.  The 
literary  were  necessarily  of  a  very  rudimentary  kind: 
First,  the  native  Primer;  and  when,  in  six  months,  the 
pupils  had  read  the  Scriptures  in  their  own  tongue,  they 
were  permitted  to  take  up  English  Spelling,  Reading, 
Catechisms,  Geography,  History,  Grammar,  Arithmetic. 
The  industrial  were  all  such  works  as,  in  the  U.  S.,  we 
would  call  on  our  own  children  to  do  at  table,  in  kitchen, 
and  in  bed-room.  For  the  larger  girls,  there  were  sew- 
ing of  their  own  dresses,  and  boys'  trousers  and  shirts, 
washing  and  ironing,  and  cooking  their  own  food;  for 
the  lads  and  young  men,  there  was  clearing  of  premises, 
carpentering,  repairing  of  thatch,  errands,  boating. 


150  CORISCO    DAYS. 

6.    CHURCHES. 

Church  organizations  were  made  at  Baraka  and  Evan- 
gasimba  at  once  on  the  location  of  the  original  missions 
there;  and  at  Mbade,  in  December,  1865.  Despite  losses 
in  localities,  there  was,  through  the  field,  a  steady  in- 
crease in  membership.  The  church  at  Evangasimba  had, 
at  one  time,  as  many  as  seventy,  from  whom  were  set 
off  about  twenty,  as  the  nucleus  of  the  Benita  Church. 
Growth  has  come,  not  only  from  pupils  of  the  schools, 
but  from  others  not  educated  at  all.  who  heard  the 
Gospel  in  village  visitations  and  itinerations.  The 
members  have  been  as  consistent  as  charity  should  ex- 
pect, when  we  consider  the  circumstances  of  their  early 
depravity,  the  unbarred  avenues  to  constant  sources  of 
temptation,  and  their  limited  means  of  grace.  There 
have  been  seasons  of  revival  and  rejoicing,  of  declen- 
sion and  discipline.  The  saddest  falls  have  been  under 
the  powerful  temptations  presented  by  foreign  lust  and 
rum.  The  foreigner,  who  has  left  his  white  wife  at 
home,  has  hired  "an  ebony  wife  or  wives  by  the  week 
or  by  the  run  in  Africa;"  and  among  these  women  have 
been  some  of  our  school-children  and  church-members, 
sold  by  their  own  parents,  husbands,  or  brothers.  Brit- 
ish and  American  Christians  have  sent  to  the  heathen 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  gallons  "of  liquid  damnation." 
"But  for  the  rum-trade,  the  native  membership  of  the 
church  would  have  been  reckoned  by  hundreds  instead 
of  tens." 

7.    NATIVE    AGENTS. 

Native  aid  was  sought  and  used  to  the  limit  of  pru- 
dence; all  who  could  be  useful  in  any  w'ay,  as  interpreters. 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I5I 

teachers,  monitors,  catechists,  exhorters,  Bible-readers, 
elders,  or  ministerial  candidates,  being  employed  when- 
ever they  expressed  the  slightest  desire  for  usefulness. 
In  an  often  reduced  state,  the  Mission  could  not  have 
sustained  the  work  at  even  its  low  rate  without  these 
humble  and,  some  of  them,  but  slightly-educated  agents. 
Placing  a  high  standard  before  ministerial  candidates, 
and  keeping  them  on  long  probation,  most  of  them 
wearied;  and,  though  subsequently  useful  in  other  ways, 
they  laid  aside  expectations  of  the  ministry;  so  that,  at 
Libreville,  only  two  became  licentiates.  Of  the  candi- 
dates and  licentiates  made  as  early  as  i860,  at  Corisco, 
only  one.  Mr.  Ibiya.  had  the  patience  to  persevere,  and 
the  purity  to  stand  tests,  and  proved  himself  worthy  of 
his  ordination  laid  in  1870.  The  comparatively  new 
ground  at  Benita  has  shown  an  unusual  richness  in 
candidates. 

8.    WORK  FOR  WOMEN. 

The  simple  existence  of  the  foreign  Christian  lady 
in  the  Mission  household,  ennobling  it  as  wife  and 
mother,  was,  independent  of  her  word,  or  prayer,  or 
exhortation,  a  standing  example  to  native  women  of 
what  their  brutal  homes  might  become.  But,  beyond 
this,  direct  attention  to  the  elevation  of  heathen  women 
was  given  by  their  sympathizing  foreign  visitors  from 
the  first, — not  only  in  the  special  work  of  girls'  schools, 
but  in  efforts  in  what  has  since  so  prominently  and 
importantly  become  itself  a  special  work — i.  c,  visiting 
women  in  their  villages.  To  this  ever  turned  the  eyes 
of  brave  missionarv  sisters,  nameless  in  this  narrative. 


152  CORISCO    DAYS. 

unmarried  ladies  or  women  whose  names  and  works  are 
here  inckided  in  their  husbands'.  It,  of  course,  could 
be  attended  to  but  irregularly,  and  therefore  without 
very  patent  results,  while  the  lady  had  her  time  occupied 
by  household  or  school.  Mrs.  Griswold,  at  Gaboon, 
after  her  husband's  death  in  1849.  "wholly  devoted  her 
life  to  the  women  and  girls,  teaching  them  during  the 
day.  visiting  them  afterwards,  and  meeting  them  on  the 
Sabbath  in  their  own  villages,  where  the  noisy  women 
stopped  their  disputes,  and  gathered  round  her  eagerly, 
catching  every  word  that  fell  from  her  lips." 

Mrs.  Clemens  and  Mrs.  McQueen,  on  their  respective 
returns  to  Corisco,  after  the  deaths  of  their  husbands, 
and  while  connected  with  the  girls'  school,  and  Mrs. 
DeHeer  in  connection  with  her  husband's  work  at 
Alongo,  did  much  of  this  same  work. 

At  Benita,  Miss  Nassau  inaugurated  for  the  Mission 
the  systematic  employment  of  Bible-women,  educating 
for  that  service  a  Liberian  assistant  (Miss  Sneed),  and 
calling  out  the  hidden  worth  of  a  native  Benga  woman, 
Matomba. 

9.    SALIENT   HISTORIC    POINTS. 

The  Mission  had  during  those  30  years  critical  periods, 
times  when  hope  was  high;  other  times  when  the  great- 
est grace  exercised  was  that  of  simple  continuance. 

The  seizure  by  the  French  of  the  Gaboon  coast  in 
1843,  threatened  the  destruction  of  the  Mission  only  a 
year  after  its  location ;  then  came  the  cloud  of  foreign 
vice  and  intemperance,  and  the  inception  of  a  long  con- 
flict.    Then  the  return  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  and  Mrs.   j.  L. 


CORISCO    DAYS,  153 

Wilson  in  1852  to  the  United  States,  after  eighteen  years 
of  service  in  Liberia  and  Gaboon;  but  continuing  his 
service  for  Africa  and  Foreign  Missions,  as  one  of  the 
Secretaries  of  the  Foreign  Board  (North)  for  eight 
years,  and  subsequently  in  the  same  capacity  in  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church.  Then  the  short  and 
brilliant  lives  of  Rev.  H.  M.  Adams,  dying  August  13, 
1856,  and  Rev.  H.  P.  Herrick,  dying  December  20, 
1857;  then,  in  i860  to  1862,  a  refreshing  ingathering  to 
the  church.  Then  the  long  waiting,  no  male  missionary 
being  added  during  the  ten  years  succeeding  the  returns 
to  this  country  of  Rev.  A.  D.  Jack  in  1859,  and  Rev. 
M.  L.  St.  John,  M.  D..  in  1861;  and,  during  all  that 
decade,  Mr.  Walker  sometimes  almost  alone  in  waging 
that  "one  long  conflict,"  his  companions,  Messrs.  Preston 
and  Bushnell,  alternating  in  association  with  him  in 
care  of  Baraka  and  furlough  to  America.  Then  the 
revival  of  1871. 

At  Corisco,  under  the  united  rare  judgment  of  Rev. 
J.  L.  ^lackey,  untiring  zeal  of  Rev.  Wm.  Clemens,  and 
skilful  educating  of  Rev.  G.  McQueen,  the  early  history 
was  bright.  The  influence  of  Mr.  Mackey  was  formative 
of  the  estimation  held  of  the  mission  in  the  native  mind. 
"Mackey"  became  a  synonym  for  "missionary,"  so  that 
newer  men,  whose  names  some  natives  had  not  learned, 
are  known  to  have  been  called  "Mackey,"  just  because 
it  was  understood  they  were  missionaries.  When  they 
failed  to  embody  the  traditional  idea  connected  with  the 
name,  they  soon  were  told  of  it  by  some  native.  Under 
Mr.  McQueen's  formative  influence,  the  pupils  of  his 
Ugobi  school  have  since  stood  as  the  accurate  English 


154  CORISCO    DAYS. 

interpreters,  teachers,  and  prominent  young  men  of 
that  part  of  the  mission,  for  almost  all  his  successors. 
Then  came  excitements  by  Ukuku,  (the  native  oracle), 
that  frightened  church-members  and  drove  away  pupils; 
then  agitations  by  Spanish  Roman  Catholics;  then,  in 
1865.  the  radical  change  in  Corisco  plan,  that,  no  longer 
concentrating  on  the  island  (where  the  two  expectations, 
of  immunity  from  fever,  and  of  raising  up  native  agents 
whose  travels  should  make  itineration  by  us  to  distant 
parts  entirely  unnecessary,  had  failed,)  took,  with  no 
greater  chances  of  fever,  a  wider  sphere,  and,  with  the 
necessity  for  superintendence  of  native  agents,  a  shorter 
and  less  arduous  path,  by  a  division  and  transfer  to  the 
mainland  at  Benita:  and  the  merging  of  the  Ugobi 
school  for  Benga  boys  into  the  Alongo,  which  thus  lost 
its  distinctive  character  as  a  school  solely  for  mainland 
tribes,  the  diminution  of  tribal  jealousy  making  a  separa- 
tion of  pupils  no  longer  necessary. 

At  Benita,  the  short  labor  of  Rev.  George  Paull  in 
1865.  apostolic  in  its  success,  planted  a  vineyard  whose 
fruit  his  two  immediate  successors  gathered  and  pressed 
as  a  wine  that  has  gladdened  many  hearts.  Then  came 
the  sad  crisis  in  March  1871,  when,  after  successive  be- 
reavements through  the  entire  field  by  death,  and  returns 
to  America,  the  old  Gaboon  Mission  about  to  be  entirely 
vacant,  I  and  my  sister.  Miss  Nassau,  the  sole  represen- 
tatives (on  the  field)  of  the  old  Corisco  Mission,  tempo- 
rarily closed  the  stricken  Benita  home,  confiding  the 
property  to  the  hands  of  a  few  honest  natives,  and  went 
to  Libreville  to  occupy  and  preserve  from  threatened 
French  Jesuit  spoliation  the  Baraka  Station,  in  the  in- 


CORISCO    DAYS,  155 

terval  of  a  few  months  between  Rev.  Wm.  Walker's 
departure  and  Rev.  Dr.  Bushnell's  return.  The  Mission 
was  at  its  lowest  ebb.  Then  began  a  day  of  brighter 
things.  The  rising  tide  of  sympathy  in  the  church,  sent 
precious  aid,  that  arrived  in  June  1871,  to  conserve  the 
fruit  of  the  labors  of  the  past,  and  to  enlarge  the  con- 
tracted borders. 

10.    SILVER    LININGS. 

Where  just  two  years  before  there  were  only  one  male 
and  one  female  white  missionary,  there  were,  at  the  close 
of  the  30  years,  five  male  and  seven  female  missionaries. 
The  presence  of  a  Mission  yacht,  the  sloop  "Elfe,"  did 
away,  for  the  women  entirely,  and  to  a  large  extent  for 
the  men,  with  the  necessity  for  traveling  the  ocean  in 
little  open  sail-boats.  Regular  monthly  trips  of  British 
mail  steamers  stopping  at  Libreville,  brought  the  mission 
in  access  to  America  a  month  nearer;  and  a  wise  disposi- 
tion of  force  (still  insufficient  to  man  even  the  Stations 
of  the  past),  in  companies  rather  than  in  single  isolation, 
gave  a  little  of  that  social  life  and  companionship,  the 
lack  of  whose  aid  had,  too  slightly  entered  into  the 
account  of  former  ill-health. 

II.  Results. 

I.    CHURCH-MEMBERS. 

At  that  date  there  were  in  the  three  churches,  a  living 
membership  of  only  200;  a  number  however  which  gave 
cause  for  gratitude,  to  those  who  are  aware  of  (few  in 


156  CORISCO    DAYS. 

the  U.  S.  can  be  made  to  properly  appreciate)  the  intense 
influences  that  prevent  coming  to,  and  that  drive  away 
from,  Christ. 

2.    CIVILIZATION. 

The  physical  aspect  of  the  people  was  much  changed 
by  the  civilization  of  even  those  who  had  not  been  able 
to  leave  off  evil  customs  so  far  as  to  unite  with  the 
church,  and  yet,  in  regard  to  whose  salvation  we  were 
not  hopeless,  even  if  they  should  never  enter  communion, 
(i.)  Dress  became  civilized.  Instead  of  the  four  or  five 
yards  of  calico  cloth,  the  common  dress  of  men  and 
women,  wrapped  about  the  loins,  and  the  uniform  naked- 
ness of  the  children,  most  men  added  a  shirt  to  the  cloth, 
or  substituted  for  it  shirt  and  trousers.  And  on  Sabbath, 
women  came  to  church,  their  bodies  covered  entirely  by 
cloths  or  by  a  frock.  This  they  did  not  wear  constantly 
during  the  week  days;  for,  while  they  still  had  to  do  so 
much  of  work  in  the  forests,  the  skirts  would  be  in  the 
way  of  the  thorns  and  branches.  (2.)  Houses  are  still 
built  of  bamboo,  but  it  makes  a  sufficiently  comfortable 
building  if  used  with  skill.  Instead  of  their  huts,  with 
a  single  room  on  the  ground,  many  now  imitated  our 
varied-roomed  and  post-elevated  dwellings. 

3.    MARRIAGES. 

No  marriage  contract,  and  scarcely  any  ceremony, 
formerly  existed.  Woman,  when  still  a  child,  was  bought 
as  an  ox  would  be.  The  Mission  ceased  to  recognize 
the  native  relation  as  a  marriage,  and  required  all  men 
and  women  who  had  been  living  together  previous  to 


CORISCO    DAYS.  1 57 

their  becoming'  Christians,  if  they  wished  to  retain  the 
same  relation,  to  be  married  by  Christian  ceremony.  A 
few  of  the  more  enhghtened  heathen  Uking  our  mode, 
have  sought  to  have  it  performed  for  them  also. 

4.    CHANGE  OF  CUSTOMS. 

Customs  are  everywhere  clung  to,  just  because  they 
have  been  customs.  In  them  are  tied  up  the  supersti- 
tions, the  religion  of  the  country,  (i.)  Witchcraft  mur- 
ders, consequent  on  every  death,  had  their  foundation 
in  the  belief  in  spirits,  and  the  power  of  those  spirits  to 
act  destructively  through  persons  in  voluntary  conjunc- 
tion with  them,  who  thus  made  themselves,  in  heart, 
murderers.  Immediately,  therefore,  after  any  death, 
investigation  always  was  made  as  to  who  the  murderer 
was;  and  someone  was  fixed  on  by  the  sorcerer-doctor, 
and  put  to  death,  often  with  tortures.  These  executions 
no  longer  occur  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Mission,  when 
the  missionary  can  hear  of  the  death  in  time  to  interfere. 
(2.)  The  funeral  rites,  which  were  insincere,  burden- 
some, and  superstitious,  and  which  gave  occasion  for 
wild  gossip,  riotous  eating  and  drinking,  and  licentious- 
ness, have  been  protested  against,  particularly  at  Benita, 
and  are  discarded  by  most  of  the  church-members. 

5.    DESIRE  FOR  EDUCATION. 

A  desire  for  education  became  general,  so  that  many 
learned  to  read  in  their  own  homes,  independent  of  the 
Mission,  eagerly  seeking  the  unpaid  aid  of  our  pupils 


158  CORISCO    DAYS. 

and  other  readers,  on  their  visits  home,  and  on  trade 
journeys.  At  all  the  Stations,  day-schools  were  put  in 
operation,  where  children  and  young  men  came  volun- 
tarily and  without  reward,  and  diligently  learned  to  read 
and  write. 

6.  LIBERALITY. 

Though  poor,  and  not  appreciating,  as  we  may,  the 
duty  of  sustaining  the  gospel,  they  have  given  to  the 
support  of  the  Mission  work.  At  Libreville,  some 
natives  provide  all  the  clothing  and  much  of  the  food 
for  their  children;  and  at  all  times  the  churches  have 
been  built  largely  by  native  aid  and  contribution. 

7.  LITERATURE. 

Besides  the  two  grammars  and  several  reading  books, 
the  entire  New  Testament  in  Benga  and  Mpongwe, 
with  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  have  been  printed. 
A  collection  was  made  of  some  two  hundred  Benga 
hymns,  one  fourth  of  them  translations  by  Mrs.  M.  C. 
Nassau.  In  their  manuscript  form  many  of  them  had 
already  been  sung  by  the  musical  natives  as  songs  in 
their  villages,  and  had  been  carried  by  the  wandering 
youth  back  from  the  coast  to  the  mountains  where  our 
own  feet  have  not  trod. 

III.  Prospects. 

Under  the  attention  excited  by  Stanley's  story  of 
Livingstone,  and  with  the  interest  with  which  the  civil- 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I  59 

ized  world  then  turned  to  Africa,  the  future  was  full  of 
hope.  That  interest,  on  the  Western  coast,  concentrated 
on  our  own  field;  British,  French,  and  German  exploring 
parties  at  that  time  investigating  that  region  with  refer- 
ence to  penetrating,  and  thus  to  supplement  from  the 
west,  Livingstone's  researches  from  the  east. 

I.    TRAINING   SCHOOL. 

A  School  was  authorized  by  the  Mission  and  located 
at  Baraka  for  the  especial  instruction  of  teachers  and 
ministerial  candidates.  For  years  there  had  been  a 
standing  objection  by  those  who  were  urged  to  devote 
themselves  to  Mission  service,  and,  by  the  ministerial 
candidates,  a  complaint,  that  each  missionary  was  so 
busy  with  the  various  and  secular  business  of  his  station 
that  he  did  not  give  the  special  instruction  they  needed. 
When  attempt  was  made  to  remedy  this  difficulty,  it 
was  found  that  missionaries  at  three  or  four  different 
places  were  spending  time  and  labor  in  doing  for  a 
small  class  of  two  at  each  of  those  places,  what  one 
teacher  could  better  do  for  the  entire  six  or  eight,  and 
for  more  who  would  come  if  they  were  gathered  at  one 
place.  That  work  Dr.  Bushnell  tried  to  do  in  a  proposed 
Training  School.  But  it  failed;  for,  natives  of  other 
tribes  were  unwilling  or  unable  to  go  to  the  Baraka 
School,  whose  Mpongwe  dialect  they  did  not  know;  also, 
not  all  of  them  were  able  to  study  in  English.  So.  since 
then  there  has  been  a  theological  school  maintained  in 
the  limits  of  each  of  the  3  dialects,  the  Benga  one  being 
taught  during  20  years  by  Miss  Nassau. 


l6o  CORISCO    DAYS. 


2.    INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION. 


Unlike  the  natives  of  India,  China,  and  other  countries, 
the  natives  of  Guinea  have  no  business,  or  interchange 
of  arts.  So  that,  when  they  become  Christians,  they 
still  have  nothing  to  call  them  from  their  natural  idle- 
ness. In  indolence  they  readily  fall  into  evil.  But  they 
have  very  generally  a  taste  for  carpentering  and  black- 
smithing  (using  rude  tools  of  their  own  make),  which 
only  needs  encouragement  to  make  it  efficient.  More- 
over, among  the  many  works  the  missionary  has  to  do, 
are  secularities  which  occupy  time,  and  which  his  ignor- 
ance ill  fits  him  to  perform.  Dr.  Loomis  in  i860,  and 
Rev.  Messrs.  Reutlinger  and  Menaul  in  1868.  and  I, 
later  sought  to  have  mechanical  teaching  introduced; 
but  the  inability  of  any  one  missionary  to  devote  himself 
to  the  project,  with  other  causes,  prevented  success. 
An  earnest  Christian  layman,  a  carpenter  or  other  me- 
chanic, could  have  done  the  house-building  my  hands 
have  had  to  do,  and  could  at  the  same  time  have  assisted 
in  religious  work.  (An  Industrial  School  has  finally 
been  recently  established.) 

3.    MEDICAL    MISSIONARIES. 

There  were  in  this  United  States,  at  the  end  of  those 
30  years,  at  least  six  families  (as  many  adult  members 
as  were  then  in  our  field)  who  were  in  good  health  and 
diligently  working  here,  who  returned  from  Africa  and 
remained  in  the  U.  S.  solely  on  account  of  their  children; 
a  state  of  things  which  would  not  exist  if  there  had  been 
proper  medical  attetidance.     Since  the  foundation  of  the 


CORISCO    DAYS.  l6l 

Mission,  there  had  been  but  one  resident  physician,  Dr. 
H.  A.  Ford,  from  1850-1858;  and  in  all  those  hundreds 
of  miles  of  coast  there  had  been  no  practising  physician, 
except  the  French  Doctor  at  the  Libreville  Naval  Depot, 
and  he  was  not  available  unless  one  was  not  too  sick 
to  go  to  him.  Missionaries  were  constrained  to  be  their 
own  doctors  by  taking,  just  before  going  to  Africa,  a 
hasty  medical  education  in  addition  to  their  theological, 
or  by  attending,  during  their  furloughs  in  this  country, 
irregular  courses  of  medical  lectures,  and  getting  a  little 
skill  by  sad  experience  in  Africa.  This  frightful  state 
of  things  suflficiently  accounts  for  some  on  the  list  of 
deaths,  without  speaking  of  African  Fever  or  blaming 
African  malaria.  A  true  Christian  physician  can  teach 
books  as  well  as,  and  cure  diseases  better  than  the 
minister,  leaving  to  the  latter  the  proper  care  of  the 
churches.  In  the  U.  S.  in  a  case  of  sickness,  the  hus- 
band or  father  flies  on  a  car  or  horse  for  the  doctor, 
distant  only  a  few  squares  or  at  most  a  few  miles.  Our 
Mission  sent  in  boats,  against  adverse  winds;  and  our 
territory  covered  200  miles  in  length,  with  only  one 
physician  in  it.     (Since  then  this  evil  has  been  rectified.) 

4.    THE    INTERIOR. 

The  sparse  population  on  the  coast  would  not  war- 
rant, in  the  presence  of  the  calls  from  more  populous 
countries,  even  the  few  missionaries  now  there,  much 
less  permit  a  plea  for  more,  if  the  work  begun  there 
were  to  end  there.  We  had  ever  looked  to  the  populous 
and  more  healthy  (because  more  elevated)  Interior,  but 


l62  CORISCO    DAYS. 

never  had  the  extra  men  who,  leaving  the  coast  stations 
fully  manned  as  a  base,  could  go  forward  and  investigate. 
So  we  painfully  and  tantalizingly  hung  only  on  the 
borders,  without  entering  our  wider  and  true  field.  Our 
natural  line  of  growth,  at  that  time,  seemed  toward  the 
east  and  south.  That  step,  I  was  the  first  one  able 
successfully  to  make,  at  the  close  of  the  first  30  years, 
by  entering  and  building  on  the  Ogowe  River  in  1874. 

(About  20  years  later,  the  present  advancement  north 
and  east,  was  made  at  Batanga.) 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TlnRT^■  Ye.\rs  of  the  Presrvterv  of  Corisco, 
1 860- 1 890. 

PRELUDE. 

AMISSION  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  was  located  on  Corisco  Island,  in  Cor- 
isco Bay.  Bight  of  Benin,  Gulf  of  Guinea,  equatorial 
west  coast  of  Africa,  in  June- July,  1850,  by  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  James  L.  Mackey  and  George  W.  Simpson  and 
their  wives. 

Mrs.  Mackey  had  died  suddenly  in  May,  at  Libreville, 
before  the  actual  location  was  decided  on,  (the  new  Mis- 
sionaries being  temporarily  guests  of  the  adjacent  A.  B. 
C.  F.  M.  Gaboon  Mission). 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simpson  were  drowned  from  a  small 
vessel,  in  a  tornado,  of¥  Fernando  Po  Island,  within  a 
year  after  the  location. 

Mr.  Mackey,  left  thus  entirely  alone,  was  subsequently 
joined  by,  in  1852,  Rev.  George  McQueen;  in  1853, 
Rev.  Messrs.  Edwin  T.  Williams,  William  Clemens, 
and  their  wives;  in  1855,  Rev.  Cornelius  and  Mrs.  De 
Heer;  in  1857,  Rev.  Thomas  Spencer  and  Mrs.  Ogden; 
in  1859,  Chauncey  L.  Loomis,  M.D.,  and  Mrs.  Loomis; 
and  at  intervals  by  several  unmarried  ladies,  the  Misses 
Isabel  Sweeny,  Caroline  Kaufman,  Maria  M.  Jackson, 
and  Georgiana  M.  Bliss. 

(163) 


164  CORISCO    DAYS. 

The  first  Station  was  built  at  Evangasimba,  on  the 
western  side  of  the  island.  Subsequently  two  other 
Stations  were  added — Ugobi.  two  miles  distant  toward 
the  southern  end,  and  Elongo,  three  miles  distant  on  the 
northern  end. 

With  changes  from  marriages,  deaths  and  removals, 
there  were  present  in  the  Mission  in  May,  i860.  Rev. 
J.  L.  and  Mrs.  Isabel  Mackey,  Rev.  Wm.  and  Mrs. 
Clemens,  Rev.  C.  De  Heer,  Rev.  T.  S.  and  Mrs.  Ogden, 
Dr.  C.  L.  and  Mrs.  Loomis,  and  Miss  Jackson. 

One  Church  had  been  formed,  at  Evangasimba,  in 
1856. 


I.  ORGANIZATION  OF  CORISCO  PRES- 
BYTERY. 

FROM  this  point  begins  the  history  of  Corisco  Pres- 
bytery. On  May  7th,  i860,  almost  exactly  ten 
years  from  the  Mission's  first  establishment,  "in 
accordance  with  previous  notice,  after  due  consultation 
had,  there  were  convened  at  Evangasimba,  Rev.  James 
L.  Mackey,  Rev.  William  Clemens,  Rev.  Cornelius  De 
Heer,  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Ogden,  and  C.  L.  Loomis,  M.D., 
missionaries  laboring  at  the  three  Stations  on  Corisco 
Island,  viz.,  Evangasimba,  Ugobi  and  Elongo,  together 
with  the  three  native  Elders,  Andeke,  Ibia  and  Ubengi, 
(of  whom  Andeke  represented  the  Church.)  for  the  pur- 
pose of  forming  a  Presbytery.  The  opening  sermon, 
from  the  words,  'O  Lord,  my  God,  thou  art  very  great,' 
Ps.  104:1,  was  delivered  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Mackey,  the 
oldest  Minister  present." 

Mr.  Mackey  was  elected  Moderator,  and  Mr.  Clemens 
Temporary  Clerk.  After  the  organization,  Dr.  Loomis 
and  the  Rev.  Walter  H.  Clark  were  invited  to  sit  as 
corresponding  members.  The  former  was  immediately 
appointed  Stated  Clerk;  and  the  latter  was,  at  a  sub- 
sequent meeting,  placed  on  the  Examining  Committee. 
Dr.  Loomis  was  an  Elder  in  a  church  in  America, 
had  studied  Theology  at  Union  Seminary,  New  York, 
was  licensed  by  a  Missouri  Presbytery,  but  had  not  with 
him  his  certificate.  Mr.  Clark  had  transferred  himself 
to  our  Mission  from  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  Gaboon  Mission, 

(165) 


l66  CORISCO    DAYS. 

and  was  laboring  in  our  bounds,  but  had  not  yet  received 
his  formal  appointment  by  the  Presbyterian  Board,  nor 
his  certificate  of  dismissal  from  his  Presbytery  of  North 
River. 

Presbytery's  name  was  officially  "Corisco,"  and  it 
was  voted  to  connect  with  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey. 
This  selection  was  had,  probably,  through  the  interest  of 
the  brethren  in  the  fact  of  their  loved  Theological  Semi- 
nary being  in  Synod's  bounds.  But  only  one,  Mr. 
Ogden,  belonged  to  that  Synod  (Presbytery  of  New- 
Brunswick)  ;  Messrs.  Mackey,  Clemens  and  De  Heer  be- 
longing to,  respectively,  Chester,  Pa.,  Washington,  Pa., 
and  Wooster,  O. 

The  new  Presbytery  was  cordially  accepted  by  Synod, 
Oct.  i8th,  i860,  at  the  hands  of  delegate  Mackey,  during 
his  visit  to  America,  and  by  the  General  Assembly  in 
May,  1861,  and  those  facts  were  reported  by  him,  on  his 
return,  to  Presbytery,  at  its  meeting,  October  19th, 
1 861. 


II.  ORGANIZATION  AND  GROWTH  OF 
CHURCHES. 

1.  COR  I  SCO    CHURCH. 

THE  mother  Church  of  the  Presbytery  was  formed 
in  1856,  the  first  Communion  being  held  on 
October  ist,  of  that  year,  on  which  occasion 
Ibia  and  Andeke  were  baptized;  and  at  first  was  called 
"Evangasimba"— afterwards  changed  to  "Corisco."  It 
grew  from  crystallization  of  the  first  native  converts 
around  the  ladies  of  the  Mission  and  a  few  Christian  Li- 
berian  servants  who  accompanied  the  pioneers.  In  the 
beginning,  before  there  was  material  for  native  Eldership, 
the  ordained  missionaries  exercised  the  function  of  both 
Teaching  and  Ruling  Elders.  Even  after  a  board  of 
native  Elders  had  been  obtained,  the  original  clerical 
members  of  that  Church,  and  some  of  their  successors 
on  Corisco  Island,  sat  and  voted  in  the  Evangasimba 
Church  Session — a  practice  which  sometimes  was  at- 
tended with  evils.  It  has  existed  in  none  of  the  other 
Churches,  except  the  Gaboon,  where  it  was  allowed  to 
an  vmnecessarily  late  day. 

2.  BENITA   CHURCH, 

Fifty-three  miles  north  of  Corisco.  As  comity  to  the  A. 
B.  C.  F.  M.  Gaboon  Mission  limited  growth  southward, 
and  inter-tribal  jealousies  barred  advance  eastward 
toward  the  interior.  Church  extension  went  northward. 

(167) 


l68  CORISCO    DAYS. 

Pupils  to  Rev.  W.  Clemens'  Elongo  Mainland  School 
came  from  Benita  and  Batanga;  Scripture-readers  were 
sent  to  the  Benita  and  Bata  districts;  Rev.  George  Paull, 
in  January,  1865,  began  the  erection  of  the  Mbade  house, 
Benita.  At  a  meeting  of  Presbytery,  April  nth,  1865, 
authority  was  given  for  the  organization  of  the  Benita 
Church.  But  Mr.  Paull's  lamented  death  delayed  the 
act.  It  was  not  consummated  tmtil  December  nth, 
1865,  when  a  Committee  of  Presbytery  (Rev.  R.  H. 
Nassau  and  Ruling  Elders  Ibia  and  Njumba)  erected  a 
Church  of  eighteen  members,  including  Elder  Njumba, 
of  the  Corisco  Church,  all  of  whom  lived  north  of  Cape 
St.  John.  That  Elder  was  never  regularly  installed  over 
the  Benita  Church.  As  the  new  Chvirch  was  set  off  by 
direction  of  Presbytery — not  at  the  request  of  the  Church, 
members  themselves — and  as  it  was  constituted  of  07ily 
the  set-ofif  eighteen  Corisco  members  (and  none  others) 
over  whom  already  that  Elder  had  been  installed,  the 
Committee  supposed  that  the  episcopal  action  of  Presby- 
tery rendered  unnecessary  an  additional  installation  cere- 
mony. 

3.    GABOON    CHURCH. 

When  the  Gaboon  Mission  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  was 
transferred  in  1870  to  our  Presbyterian  Board,  and  by  it 
merged  into  our  Corisco  Mission,  the  Congregationalist 
Society,  existing  since  1843,  ^t  Libreville,  was,  by  direc- 
tion of  Presbytery,  through  Committee  (Rev.  Messrs. 
Bushnell  and  Gillespie),  June  14th,  1871,  reorganized 
as  a  Presbyterian  Church,  and  on  their  report.  August 
19th.  187T,  enrolled  the  third  on  our  list  of  Churches. 


CORISCO    DAYS.  1 69 

4.    BATANGA    CHURCH, 

Seventy-five  miles  north  of  Benita.  The  establishment 
of  the  Batans^a  Church  was  by  order  of  Presbytery,  in 
precisely  the  same  way — with  much  of  the  same  reasons, 
and  with  a  Ruling  Elder  as  one  of  the  colonizing  com- 
pany— as  in  the  case  of  the  Benita  Church.  The  order 
was  made  in  meeting  of  January  13th,  1879,  erecting 
into  a  separate  body  all  Benita  Church  members  living 
north  of  Evune.  The  actual  organization,  as  reported 
by  the  Committee  (Rev.  Messrs.  Ibia  and  Murphy),  was 
made  April  i6th.  1879,  w-ith  "thirty-eight  members  set 
of?  from  Benita  Church,  with  Itongolo,  and  two  others 
newly  elected,  as  Elders." 

5.    OGOVE  CHURCH, 

One  hundred  and  30  miles  up  Ogove  River,  at  Kangwe 
Station.  A  written  request  to  Presbytery,  "signed  by 
four  members  of  Gaboon  Church  and  two  of  Benita 
Church,  residing  permanently  in  the  Ogove,"  was 
granted  at  meeting  of  July  21st,  1879.  The  organization 
by  Committee  (Rev.  R.  H.  Nassau),  was  effected  Novem- 
ber 28th,  1879,  with  those  six  applicants,  and  H.  M. 
Bacheler,  M.D.,  medical  Missionary,  who  offered  his 
certificate  of  membership  from  the  Summit  Presbyterian 
Church,  New  Jersey,  and  who  accepted  the  office  of 
Ruling  Elder,  to  which  he  was  immediately  regularly 
elected,  ordained,  and  installed.  At  a  meeting  of  Session, 
next  day,  ten  candidates  for  baptism  were  examined,  of 
whom  three  were  received.     Five  of  those  six  who  sisfned 


lyO  CORISCO    DAYS. 

the  request  to  Presbytery  were  the  first  Ogove  converts, 
and  they  had  been  taken  to  the  sea-coast  Churches  for 
baptism. 

6.    EVUNE    CHURCH, 

About  forty  miles  north  of  Benita.  The  second  colony 
from  the  fruitful  Benita  Church  was  the  Evune,  set  of? 
in  May,  i88i,  with  twenty-one  members,  without,  as  far 
as  appears  from  the  records,  any  request  to  or  authority 
from  Presbytery.  Rev.  C.  De  Heer,  at  its  meeting  De- 
cember 14th,  188 1,  reported  that  he  had  organized  such 
a  Church;  "and,  on  motion,  it  was  enrolled,  and  its 
Elder,  Mbai,  admitted  to  a  seat." 

7.    "first    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    OF    BATA," 

About  twenty  miles  north  of  Benita,  the  third  Benita 
colony,  was,  at  the  written  request  of  Benita  Church 
members,  authorized  at  the  meeting  of  Presbytery,  Jan- 
uary I2th,  1883,  and  subsequently  organized  by  Com- 
mittee (Rev.  Messrs.  Gault  and  De  Heer,  and  Elders 
Ebuma  and  Etiyani),  on  September  25th,  1883,  by  set- 
ting off  forty-one  members,  "baptizing  one  new  member 
on  profession  of  her  faith,  electing  two  Elders  and  in- 
stalling them  both,  first  having  ordained  one,  the  other 
having  been  an  Elder  in  the  Benita  Church." 


III.  REDUCED  MEMBERSHIP. 

PRESBYTERY,  organized  with  only  four  clerical 
members,  never  had  less  than  three  to  continue 
its  organic  life;  but,  several  times,  by  the  ab- 
sence of  one  or  more  of  its  members  in  America,  it 
has  been  without  a  working  quorum.  Shortly  after  its 
organization,  Mr.  Mackey  left,  on  a  visit  to  America, 
the  three  other  members  remaining  on  the  ground.  It 
is  recorded  that  one  of  them.  Rev.  C.  De  Heer,  in  order 
to  make  a  Cjuorum  at  the  meeting  of  April  Qtli,  1861, 
was  brought  into  the  Church,  sick  with  fever,  ''wrapped 
in  a  blanket  and  laid  on  a  pallet." 

During  all  of  1864,  and  again  for  a  whole  year  in 
1870-71,  there  were  no  meetings,  there  being  only  two 
members  on  the  ground. 

On  June  25th,  1880,  a  meeting  is  recorded  as  consti- 
tuted with  Elder  Bacheler  as  Moderator,  and  only  two 
Ministers  (Messrs.  De  Heer  and  Truman) ;  the  certificate 
of  a  new  member  (Rev.  A.  W.  Marling)  being  subse- 
quently received  during  the  session. 

And  on  January  7th,  1884,  another  meeting  is  recorded 
with  only  two  members  (Rev.  Messrs.  Nassau  and  Gault) 
actually  present;  a  third  (Rev.  W.  H.  Robinson)  lying 
in  an  adjacent  house,  too  sick  to  be  moved;  and  a  fourth 
(Rev.  A.  C.  Good)  arriving  after  the  meeting  had  ad- 
journed). 

Indeed,  the  final  reason  for  the  ordination  of  Licen- 
tiate Ibia,  on  April  5th,  1870,  was  for  the  salvation  of 

(171) 


172  CORISCO    DAYS. 

the  Presbytery's  organic  life — the  expected  absence  of 
Mr.  De  Heer  and  dismissal  of  Mr.  Menaul,  leaving  only 
Mr.  Nassau  actually  on  the  ground.  The  same  final 
reason  prevailed  to  the  ordination  of  Licentiate  Truman, 
on  January  7th,  1880,  the  expected  absence  of  Mr. 
Nassau  and  dismissal  of  Mr.  Murphy,  leaving  only  Mr. 
Ibia  actually  on  the  ground. 


IV.  UNUSUAL  METHODS  AND   DISORDERLY 

ACTS. 

THIS  occasionally  reduced  membership  led  to  some 
unusual,  and  perhaps  unpresbyterial,  methods. 
I.  At  the  meeting  October  19th,  1861,  Mr. 
Clemens  about  to  be  absent  in  America,  the  two  remain- 
ing members  (Rev.  Messrs.  Mackey  and  De  Heer),  were 
appointed  an  "Executive  Committee  with  power  ad  in- 
tcri)}i.''  Subsequently,  October  loth,  1865,  the  circum- 
stances being  similar,  it  was  voted  that  whenever  the 
Presbytery  should  be  reduced,  by  absence  in  America, 
to  less  than  a  quorum,  the  remaining  two  members  on 
the  ground  should  be  an  Ad  Interim  Committee,  "who 
shall  continue  in  office  one  year  and  until  discharged  by 
Presbytery,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  (i)  to  receive  creden- 
tials of  applicants  for  admission  to  Presbytery,  and  make 
examination  according  to  Presbyterial  usage;  and  when 
they  shall  approve  such  men,  they  shall  report  their 
names  to  the  Stated  Clerk,  who  shall  enroll  them  in  the 
Book  of  Records;  and  such  applicants  shall  be  then 
considered  regular  members  of  this  Presbytery.  (2)  The 
said  Committee  shall  also  be  authorized  to  examine 
candidates  for  the  ministry  on  their  studies  when  they 
are  prepared  for  such  examination.  (3)  It  may  also 
examine  Sessional  Records.  The  acts  of  this  Committee 
shall  be  submitted  to  Presbytery  for  approval  at  the  next 
regular  meeting,  or  whenever  Presbytery  shall  call  for 
their  report."     Of  the  above-named  vested  powers,  the 

(173) 


174  CORISCO    DAYS. 

second  (2)  was  never  exercised.  The  Committee's  (Rev. 
Messrs.  Mackey  and  De  Heer)  first  act  was,  about  De- 
cember, 1861,  to  receive  the  credentials  of  Rev.  R.  H. 
Nassau,  from  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  who. 
ipso  facto,  became  a  member  of  the  Presbytery,  and  a 
constituting  member  of  the  meeting  of  January  i8th, 
1862,  that  received  the  credentials  of  Rev.  Walter  H. 
Clark,  from  the  Presbytery  of  North  River.  The  Com- 
mittee's (Rev.  Messrs.  Nassau  and  Ibia)  last  recorded 
act  is  the  reception  and  recording  of  the  name  of  Rev. 
Albert  Bushnell,  D.D.,  from  the  Presbytery  of  Cincin- 
nati, on  June  14th,  1871 ;  since  which  time,  the  occasional 
difficulty  (notwithstanding  our  increased  membership)  in 
obtaining  a  quorum,  has  not  been  caused  by  "absences 
in  America;"  and,  therefore,  the  Committee  ceased  to 
exist. 

2.  During  all  of  i860,  Dr.  C.  L.  Loomis  acted  as  Tem- 
porary Clerk,  at  each  meeting  being  invited  to  sit  as 
"corresponding  member,"  and  being  elected  Stated  Clerk 
for  the  year,  though  he  never  had  any  regular  connection 
with  Presbytery.  And,  in  1861,  Rev.  Messrs.  Clark  and 
Nassau,  sitting  as  corresponding  members,  were  placed 
on  Committees,  and  spoke  and  acted  in  all  respects 
(except  voting)  as  if  full  members. 

3.  A  Stated  Meeting  was  held  June  25th,  1880,  by 
only  two  Ministers,  receiving  during  its  sessions  the 
credentials  of  a  third,  and  enrolling  as  a  representative 
Elder,  a  native  who  never  was  an  Elder.  The  Pres- 
bytery, thus  constituted,  proceeded  to  deprive  of  licen- 
sure a  native  brother,  for  an  alleged  oflfense  which  an 
informal  (and  therefore  unrecorded)  investigation  by  3 


CORISCO    DAYS.  I  75 

Other  members  of  Presbytery,  six  months  previously, 
had  decided  did  not  call  for  discipline;  and  appointed 
as  Stated  Supply  of  the  Gaboon  Church  a  Congregational 
Minister  (laboring  in  the  employ  of  Mission  within  the 
bounds  of  Presbytery,  but  having  no  connection  with  it 
other  than  corresponding  membership),  who,  assuming 
possession  of  the  Gaboon  Church  Books  and  Session, 
had  dismissed  to  a  distant  point  the  native  Minister  whom 
Presbytery  had  regularly  located  as  Supply  over  that 
Church.  This  state  of  afifairs  continued  for  more  than 
two  years;  protested  against  by  only  one  member  of 
Presbytery;  the  other  members,  while  admitting  the  ille- 
gality of  the  proceedings,  excused  the  allowance  of  them 
by  their  personal  respect  for  the  Congregational  brother, 
and  the  deference  due  to  his  talents  and  long-continued 
service  in  the  former  Mission. 


V.  DISCIPLINE. 

THE  frequent  changes  and  reductions  in  the  mem- 
bership of  Presbytery,  while  they  barely  escaped 
destroying  its  organic  life,  did  destroy  its  con- 
sistency, and  made  its  discipline  irregular  and  neglectful 
of  recorded  rule.  New  members  sometimes  failed  to 
acquaint  themselves  with  our  historic  precedents.  A 
leaven  of  independency  carried,  at  times,  severity  even 
to  the  point  of  despotism  possible  under  Congregational- 
ism, but  which  the  bars  and  checks  of  faithfully-executed 
Presbyterianism  so  justly  prevent.  At  other  times,  there 
was  laxity  that  took  no  notice  of  what  had  previously 
been  severely  dealt  with.  The  inability  to  maintain  an 
invariable  standard  of  opinion  in  a  fluctuating  member- 
ship, and  the  disregard  of  old  rules  by  new  members, 
led,  at  different  times,  to  inconsistent  positions  and  acts 
on  even  g^rave  moral  points.  Native  church  members 
were,  at  times,  disciplined  for  acts  affecting  the  seventh 
Commandment,  which,  at  other  times,  were  passed  by 
unrebuked;  disciplined,  at  times,  for  acts  regarding 
temperance  and  Sabbath  observance,  for  which  same  acts 
even  members  of  Presbytery  went  unchallenged. 


(176) 


VI.  CHURCH  WORK. 

BUT  if  these  preceding  points,  in  a  truthful  and  im- 
partial history,  must  be  recorded,  we  can  speak 
with  honorable  pride  of  consistent,  faithful  and 
efficient  work  done  through  the  evangelistic  labor  of 
Bible-readers.  As  early  as  the  meeting  October  19th, 
1861,  a  Committee  (Rev.  Messrs.  Clemens  and  Nassau, 
and  Dr.  Loomis)  "was  authorized  to  bring  before  Pres- 
bytery, in  such  a  form  as  they  may  see  fit,  the  duty  of 
Presbytery  toward  native  helpers,  especially  as  to  their 
examination  respecting  their  religious  views,  their  mo- 
tives on  entering  the  work,  the  doctrines  they  hold, 
their  general  fitness  for  the  work,  and  appropriate  man- 
ner of  setting  them  apart  for  their  employment."  That 
Committee,  "The  Mainland  X'isiting,"  changed  to  two 
members,  never  for  ten  years  lost  its  organic  life,  vacan- 
cies being  regularly  filled.  Its  field  of  operations  lay 
from  Cape  Esterias  on  the  south, — eastward  in  the 
Munda  River  and  in  the  P)ay  at  Ukaka,  Hondo  and 
Mbangwe, — and  northward  at  Cape  St.  John,  Italamanga, 
Aje,  Hanje,  Upwanjo,  Meduma,  Bata,  Batanga,  and  other 
intermediate  points.  It  located  Scripture-readers  at  most 
of  those  places,  traveling  hundreds  of  miles  yearly  in 
their  inspection,  encouragement  and,  sometimes,  protec- 
tion. As  other  fields  were  opened  up,  their  prominent 
points  were  thus  occupied  by  similar  Committees.  This 
was  especially  true  in  the  Ogove  River  under  Rev.  A.  C. 
Good,  where  the  Bible-readers  were  the  strongest  arm 

(177) 


178  CORISCO    DAYS. 

of  the  work.  They  contributed  largely  to  the  in-gath- 
erings  of  the  Church  membership  there.  In  the  Benita 
region  they  were  the  pioneers  of  the  three  Churches 
colonized  from  the  original  Benita  Church.  They  were 
from  the  first  regarded  as  under  the  appointment,  in- 
spection and  direction  of  the  Presbytery;  the  Committee 
in  charge  being  itself  subject  to  Presbytery,  making 
regular  written  reports,  and  its  acts  being  open  to  criti- 
cism and  alteration. 

But  at  the  meeting  January  7th,  1884,  a  radical  meas- 
ure was  passed.  Presbytery  abdicating  all  its  right  over 
and  interest  in  the  Bible-readers,  leaving  their  selection, 
employment,  wages  and  work,  solely  in  the  control  of 
each  individual  Missionary  within  the  bounds  of  his 
parish.  There  may  be  ground  for  question  whether,  in 
so  doing  Presbytery  did  not  neglect  an  important  Church 
interest,  the  work  itself  be  not  in  danger  of  losing  its 
sacred  character,  and  the  workers  themselves  liable  to 
take  it  up  as  they  would  any  merely  secular  job.  The 
plea  for  the  change  was  that,  as  the  Committees,  by 
Presbytery's  failing  to  fill  vacancies,  had  ceased  to  exist, 
and  the  work  had  afterward  been  carried  on  by  indi- 
viduals in  their  separate  parishes,  those  individuals  should 
be  allowed  uncontrolled  charge  of  their  own  work. 


VII.  CANDIDATES  FOR  THE  MINISTRY. 

ANOTHER  most  important  duty  that  has  ever 
claimed  the  attention  of  Presbytery  was  the  in- 
ducting of  worthy  young'  men  into  the  ministry; 
the  native  Church  members  being  early  charged  that 
the  support  and  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  their  own 
country  belonged  to  them,  that  it  could  not  always  con- 
tinue an  American  import.  To  this  end,  the  first  mis- 
sionaries, even  before  Presbytery  was  organized,  each  at 
his  own  Station,  had  carefully  taught  and  encouraged 
their  best  pupils  to  seek  the  ministry.  So  that,  at  the 
very  first  meeting.  May  7th,  i860,  the  three  native  Elders, 
Andeke,  Ibia  and  Ubengi,  having  already  privately 
passed  the  necessary  studies,  under  the  tutelage  and 
special  patronage  of  respectively  Rev.  Messrs.  Mackey, 
Clemens  and  De  Heer,  came  for  examination,  and  were 
assigned  trials  for  licensure.  At  that  same  meeting,  a 
Committee  (Rev.  T.  S.  Ogden  and  Dr.  Loomis)  were 
appointed  to  report  a  liberal  course  of  study  for  future 
candidates.  And,  at  the  meeting  January  9th,  1872,  a 
Committee  (Rev.  Messrs.  Gillespie  and  Bushnell)  re- 
ported a  still  more  extended  course. 

As  the  English  is  to  our  candidates  a  foreign  language, 
proficiency  in  it  was  always  accepted  instead  of  Latin, 
Greek  or  Hebrew.  Later,  also,  meeting  January  5th, 
1886,  the  rule  requiring  even  a  knowledge  of  English  as 
a  prerequisite  for  licensure,  was  relaxed  in  favor  of  cer- 
tain native  laborers,  "who,  by  their  exceptional  zeal  and 

(179) 


l8o  CORISCO    DAYS. 

success,  had  shown  themselves  worthy  of  the  ministerial 
office."  From  the  beginning,  almost  every  Missionary, 
male  and  female,  had  some  favorite  pupil  or  pupils  whom 
their  personal  interest  led  into  candidacy.  So  that  the 
honor  of  raising  candidates  can  be  claimed  solely  by  no 
one  member  of  Mission  or  Presbytery.  But  these  pupils 
often  became  discouraged  and  dropped  out.  The  multi- 
farious businesses  that  distract  a  Missionary's  time  and 
attention  at  each  Station  often  made  his  teaching  irreg- 
ular, and  the  students  turned  aside,  wearied  at  the  delay 
on  the  way  to  the  goal  of  licensure.  These  delays  were 
increased  by  removals  of  the  patron  Missionary  from  the 
field.  The  successor  could  not  always  fully  assume  the 
role  of  patron  to  the  (to  him  or  her)  comparatively  un- 
known protege;  misunderstandings  and  losses  inevitably 
came,  and  the  native  helpers,  with  a  hurt  feeling  against 
individuals,  charged  Presbytery  as  a  body  with  lack  of 
sympathy  for  them.  However  true  this  charge  may 
have  occasionally  been,  Presbytery  made  effort  twice, 
in  1872  and  in  1883,  to  relieve  the  evident  discontent,  by 
attempting  to  gather  at  the  central  Gaboon  Station, 
students  from  all  other  Stations,  into  a  proposed  Gaboon 
Theological  Training  School,  under  the  special  instruc- 
tion of,  successively,  Rev.  Messrs.  Bushnell  and  Good. 
But  the  efforts  were  unsuccessful.  Candidates,  as  for- 
merly, grew  up  where  their  tribal  interests  lay,  or  where 
their  employment  during  part  of  each  day  as  Station  as- 
sistants affiliated  them  with  the  teacher  of  their  own 
choice.  Thus,  any  teacher  in  the  Mission  might  have 
charge  of  one  or  more  candidates.  Presbytery,  sev- 
eral times,  officially  recognized  the  efficiency  of  their 


CORISCO    DAYS.  l8l 

labor,  particularly  so  that  of  Miss  I.  A.  Nassau,  who, 
longer  than  any  other  one  person,  engaged  herself  in  this 
special  work  during  those  thirty  years.  As  a  result  of 
these  various  efforts  to  raise  a  native  ministry,  over  the 
twenty-eight  years  of  the  Presbytery's  life  (up  to  1888), 
there  were  on  our  roll  twenty-eight  candidates,  not 
including  many  others  who  were  students  to  that  end, 
but  who  dropped  out  before  actual  enrollment. 

Of  these  twenty-eight,  there  reached  ordination  four, 
viz..  Rev.  Messrs.  Ibia,  Truman,  Myongo  and  Etiyani. 
Eight  others  reached  licensure;  four  of  them  went  back 
to  the  world,  but  one  of  these  (Owondo)  afterward  re- 
turned, entering  his  name  again  on  the  list  of  candidates, 
thus  leaving  at  that  date,  licentiates,  four.  Of  the  re- 
maining eighteen,  one  (Tongo)  died  in  good  standing. 
Dropped  out,  without  discredit,  four.  Dropped  with 
censure,  five.  Leaving  on  the  roll  at  that  date  seven, 
(Owondo,  Bapite,  Eduma,  Divine,  Itongolo,  Joaque  and 
Ogula.) 

RECAPITULATION. 

Ordained 4 

{Licensed 8") 

License   revoked 4>  4 

Restored  as  candidate ij  3 

Died  in  good  standing 1 

Dropped,  without  censure 4 

Dropped,  with  censure 5 

On  roll  in  1  888 7 

Total 28 


VIII.  SYSTEMATIC  BENEFICENCE  AND 
SELF-HELP. 

EVERY  Pastor  and  Supply  has,  in  his  own  way, 
and  according  to  his  degree  of  interest  on  the 
subject,  urged  the  native  Churches  to  self-sup- 
port. But  there  was  no  systematic  plan.  Natural  covet- 
ousness  prevented  the  natives  from  making  energetic 
eflfort.  Indeed,  those  conmiunities,  c.  g.,  Gaboon, 
which — -by  the  presence  of  white  missionaries  and  the 
expenditure  of  foreign  funds  in  building  of  houses,  feed- 
ing and  clothing  of  pupils,  and  employment  of  work- 
men— ^received  the  largest  amount  of  aid,  were  the 
slowest  to  give  for  their  own  Church  expenses.  While 
those,  c.  g.,  Batanga,  which  had  been  steadily  refused 
the  white  man's  expensive  presence,  and  which,  as  a  con- 
dition of  our  sending  them  even  native  teachers  and 
preachers,  were  required  themselves  to  build  school- 
house,  Church,  &c.,  responded  the  most  abundantly. 
The  Mission  custom  of  providing  everything  for  the 
school  children,  food,  clothing,  washing,  mending,  books, 
lights,  bedding,  eating  utensils,  etc.,  etc.,  evoked  little 
gratitude,  seemed  only  to  harden  selfishness,  until  it  was 
seen  to  be  an  evil.  Then,  meeting  January  13th,  1879, 
the  simple  entering  wedge  of  a  change,  /.  c,  the  requisi- 
tion that  at  least  books  should  be  paid  for,  was  com- 
plained against  and  resisted.  But,  finally,  that  requisition 
and  others  are  in  force. 

One  native  brother,  Rev.  Ibia,  as  early  as  1865,  felt 
the  evil  habit  growing  on  the  aborigines,  of  depending 

(182) 


CORISCO    DAYS.  183 

for  support  on  foreign  missionaries  and  traders.  He 
asked  to  be  allowed  to  establish  and  receive  (only)  tem- 
porary aid  in  a  project  at  Mbangwe,  a  point  in  Corisco 
Bay,  which  he  hoped,  would  eventually  become  self-sup- 
porting, where  "everyone  who  will  marry  but  one  wife, 
and  live  industriously,  is  encouraged  to  come  and  live." 
Oil-palm,  cacao  and  coconut  trees  were  planted,  in  the 
hope  of  creating  an  honest  trade,  free  from  the  dangers  of 
the  dishonest  "trust  system"  in  vogue  on  the  coast.  Car- 
pentering also  was  taught,  and  the  breeding  of  cattle 
and  fowls  for  sale  was  tried.  The  enterprise  was  com- 
menced, but,  for  various  reasons,  did  not  have  the  hoped- 
for  results.  Nevertheless,  Mr.  Ibia,  in  season  and  out  of 
season  with  a  reformer's  zeal,  but  with  little  success  at 
first,  urged  on  his  people  the  duty  of  casting  off  their 
inherited  indolence;  and,  sometimes,  received  therefor 
from  them  a  reformer's  painful  isolation  and  even  hatred. 


IX.  PASTORSHIPS  AND  SUPPLIES. 

THE  undesirable  letters  "S.  S.,"  appear  very  fre- 
quently in  Presbytery's  annual  statistics  to  As- 
sembly. But  they  represent,  not  the  American 
relation  covered  by  the  name  "Supply."  but  the  inevit- 
able instability  of  our  connection  between  preacher  and 
people,  due  to  our  constantly  fluctuating  membership 
and  frequent  absences  in  America.  It  seemed  undesir- 
able to  constitute  a  pastoral  relation  that  was  to  be  broken 
in  a  few  years,  or  at  least  interrupted  by  absences  of  a 
year  or  two.  It  resulted,  therefore,  that  the  Minister 
whom  necessity  or  the  Mission  happened  to  employ  at 
any  particular  Station,  was  appointed  by  the  Presbytery, 
without  any  reference  to  his  fitness  or  the  wishes  of  the 
people,  "Stated  Supply"  of  the  Church  gathered  at  that 
place.  The  only  actual  pastorships  regularly  formed  on 
call  from  the  people  and  installation  by  Presbyter^',  were: 
Over  Corisco  Church,  Rev.  J.  L.  Mackey,  January,  1862, 
to  June.  1865;  and  Rev.  Ibia  J'Ikenge.  called  in  1880,  but 
not  installed  till  February  7th.  1883.  Over  Benita 
Church,  Rev.  S.  H.  Murphy,  1872  and  1873.  Over 
Gaboon  Church,  Rev.  A,  Bushnell,  D.D..  from  1872. 
till  his  death,  in  1879. 

Licentiates  have  constantly  been  used  as  Supplies, 
with  a  neighboring  Minister  to  moderate  Session  and 
administer  Sacraments. 


(184) 


X.  CATECHUMEN  INQUIRY  CLASS. 

PROFESSION  of  faith  in  Christ  is  not,  in  our  field, 
the  cross  it  is  in  many  countries.  It  rarely  has 
brought  persecution.  Indeed,  Church  connection 
often  brings  the  obscure  native  into  enviable  prominence. 
Our  Sessions  are  aware  that  baptism  and  the  Christian 
name  are  sometimes  sought,  with  only  a  perfunctory 
performance  of  public  Christian  duty,  as  a  social  distinc- 
tion. A  singular  aspect  of  our  work  is  therefore  re- 
vealed, viz.,  that  of  barring  the  way  to  the  table  by  a 
probationer's  class,  and  by  various  delays  of  Session. 
A  resolution  of  Presbytery  requires  all  who  ask  for 
baptism,  to  first  pass  at  least  one  year's  instruction  under 
the  Minister,  Licentiate  or  Bible-reader  nearest  to  them, 
and  to  at  once  give  a  partial  proof  of  their  sincerity  by 
complying  with  our  rules  as  to  polygamy,  slave-holding, 
use  of  intoxicating  liquor,  and  Christian  marriage  cere- 
mony, and  by  making  a  faithful  effort  to  learn  to  read 
the  Bible  in  their  own  tongue. 

XL  REVIVALS. 

ALL  parts  of  our  field,  each  in  its  "accepted  time," 
have  been  at  intervals  blessed  with  revival.  The 
natural  socially-sympathetic  feelings  of  the  Negro 
may  often  have  been  involved  in  the  causes  that  drew 
the  crowd;  and  too  little  has  there  been  expression  of 
tearful  sorrow  for  sin,  and  earnest  longing  after  right- 
eousness. Too  often  there  crop  out  in  Session  exam- 
inations desire  of  escape  from  the  trouble  sin  brings  as 

(185) 


t86  corisco  days. 

punishment  only  in  this  Hfe,  and  a  coveting  of  the  bene- 
fits of  civilization  that  accompany  Christianity.  But, 
with  all  this  chaff,  we  believe  much  precious  grain  has 
been  gathered  for  the  garner. 

XII.  WOMEN'S  WORK. 

THE  more  silent,  but  often  powerful  influence  of 
the  work  of  foreign  white  (with  a  few  native) 
Christian  women,  being  under  the  government 
of  the  Mission,  has  not  come  under  Presbytery's  official 
charge  or  inspection,  except  in  the  cases  of  the  female 
missionary  teacher  of  candidates  for  the  ministry,  and 
of  the  few  natives  (notably  among  them  Mrs.  Benje- 
Itongolo,  of  Benita,  and  Mrs.  Bessy  Makae,  of  Gaboon,) 
who  have  labored  as  Scripture-readers.  But,  limited  as 
has  been  Presbytery's  direct  or  official  connection  with 
the  patient  toil  of  these  and  of  other  women,  it  would 
be  an  omission,  in  a  historic  sketch,  not  to  acknowledge 
its  value  and  success. 


XIII.  ROLL  OF  MINISTERS. 

THE  whole  number  of  Ministers  connected  with  the 
Presbytery,  from  its  organization  to  February, 
1888,  was  twenty-two  (22),  as  follows: 

1.  Rev.  James  L.  Mackey,*  from  Presbytery  of  Chester. 

Died.     (See  list  of  deaths.) 

2.  Rev.  William  Clemens,*  from  Presbytery  of  Wash- 

ington.    Died.     (See  list  of  deaths.) 

3.  Rev.    Cornelius    De    Heer,*    from    Presbytery    of 

Wooster. 

4.  Rev.  Thomas  Spencer  Ogden,"^  from  Presbytery  of 

New  Brunswick.     Died.     (See  list  of  deaths.) 

5.  Rev.  Robert  Hamill  Nassau,  from  Presbytery  of  New 

Brunswick.     Received.   1861. 

6.  Rev.    Walter   H.   Clark,   from   Presbytery  of   North 

River.     Received,    1862.     Returned   to   America. 
Dismissed  to  Presbytery  of  Nebraska,  1871. 

7.  Rev.   George   Paul),   from   Presbytery   of   Redstone. 

Received,  1865.     Died.     (See  list  of  deaths.) 

8.  Rev.  Solomon  Reutlinger,  from  Presbytery  of  Win- 

nebago.    Received,     1867.     Died.     (See    list    of 
deaths.) 

9.  Rev.  John  Menaul.  from  Presbytery  of  North  River. 

Received,     1868.     Returned     to     America.     Dis- 
missed to  Presbytery  in  Arizona.  1871. 

10.  Rev.  Ibia  J'Ikenge.     Ordained,  1870. 

11.  Rev.  Albert  Bushnell,  D.D.,  from  Presbytery  of  Cin- 


*  Presbytery  organized,  1860. 

(187) 


1 88  CORISCO    DAYS, 

cinnati.  Received,  1871.  Died.  (See  list  of 
deaths.) 

12.  Rev.  Samuel  L.  Gillespie,  from  Presbytery  of  Chilli- 

cothe.  Received,  1871.  Returned  to  x^merica, 
1874.     Left  without  letter.     Name  dropped. 

13.  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Murphy,  from   Presbytery  of  Chi- 

cago. Received,  1871.  Returned  to  America, 
1874.  Left  without  letter.  Named  dropped. 
Came  back  from  Presbytery  of  Winona,  1878. 
Returned  to  America,  1880.  Dismissed  to  Pres- 
bytery of  Mankato,  188 1. 

14.  Rev.  J.  C.  deB.  Kops,  from  Presbytery  of  Chicago. 

Received,  1871.  Returned  to  America,  1873. 
Left  without  letter.     Name  dropped. 

15.  Rev.  Wilhelm  Schorsch,  from  Presbytery  of  Chicago. 

Received,  1874.  Returned  to  Germany.  Insane. 
Name  dropped,  1878. 

16.  Rev.  Ntaka  Truman.     Ordained,  1880. 

17.  Rev.  Arthur  Wodehouse  Marling,  from  Presbytery 

of  New  Brunswick.     Received,  1880. 

18.  Rev.  Graham  Cox  Campbell,  from  Presbytery  of  St. 

Paul.  Received,  1881.  Returned  to  America. 
Dismissed  to  Presbytery  of  St.  Paul,  1888. 

19.  Rev.  William  Chambers  Gault,  from  Presbytery  of 

Steubenville.     Received,  1881. 

20.  Rev.  William  Harvey  Robinson,  from  Presbytery  of 

Kittanning.  Received.  1881.  Returned  to  America. 
Dismissed  to  Presbytery  of  Kittanning,  1887. 

21.  Rev.  Adolphus  Clemens  Good,  from  Presbytery  of 

Kittanning.     Received,  1883. 

22.  Rev.  Frank  Sherrerd  Myongo.     Ordained,  1886. 


XIV.  MODERATORS. 

THE  roll  of  Moderators  coincides  so  very  closely 
with  the  above  list  of  Ministers  as  to  be  almost 
a  repetition  of  it.  A  spirit  of  impartiality  in  the 
distribution  of  office  was  seconded  by  our  often  limited 
material.  A  somewhat  regular  rotation  therefore 
brought  into  the  Moderator's  chair,  in  succession,  at 
least,  once,  every  Minister,  excepting  Rev.  Messrs.  Tru- 
man, ^lyongo  and  George  Paull,  the  latter  of  whom 
was  connected  with  the  Corisco  Mission  little  over  a 
year,  and  with  Presbytery  only  four  months.  Rev. 
Messrs.  Nassau,  Bushnell  and  Gault  each  held  the 
chair  two  years.  Rev.  Ibia  J'Ikenge  three  years,  and  Rev. 
C.  De  Heer  seven  vears. 


XV.  LIST  OF  STATED  CLERKS. 

i86o-'6i.  Corresponding     Member,     Elder     Licentiate 

Chauncey  L.  Loomis,  M.D. 
i86i-'65.  Rev.  James  L.  Mackey. 
i865-'73.  Rev.  Robert  Hamill  Nassau. 
i873-'75.  Rev.  Samuel  Howell  Murphy. 
i875-'8o.  Rev.  Robert  Hamill  Nassau. 
1880- '8i.  Elder  Henry  Martyn  Bacheler,  M.D. 
1881-         Rev.  Robert  Hamill  Nassau. 


(189) 


XVI.  NECROLOGY. 

There  died: 

1.  Rev.  Thomas  Spencer  Ogden,  May   12th,   1861,  on 

Corisco  Island,  of  African  fever. 

2.  Rev.  William  Clemens,  June  24th,   1862,  at  sea,  on 

board  ship  en  route  to  America,  of  yellow  fever. 

3.  Rev.    George    Paull,    May    14th,    1865,    on    Corisco 

Island,  of  African  fever. 

4.  Rev.  James  L.  Mackey,  April  30th,  1867,  at  New  Lon- 

don, Pa.,  U.  S.  A.,  of  consumption. 

5.  Rev.  Solomon  Reutlinger,  July  17th,  1869,  at  Mbade, 

Benita,  of  erysipelas. 

6.  Rev.  Albert  Bushnell,  D.D.,  December  2d,  1879,  on 

board  British  mail  steamer,  harbor  of  Sierra  Leone. 
W.  C.  A.,  of  pneumonia. 


(190) 


CORISCO    DAYS. 


191 


XVII.  STATISTICS  TO  1890. 


Ministers. 

Churches. 

Commu- 
nicants. 

Robert  Hamill  Nassau. 

Ibia  J'Ikenge,   P.  .    .    . 

. 

Corisco,   P. 

109 

Ntaka  Truman,  Ev. 

Arthur  Wodehouse  Marling. 

William  Chambers  Gault, 

S.  S.  . 

Gaboon,  S. 

S. 

51 

Adolphus  Clemens  Good. 

<J 

Frank  Sherrard  Myongo, 

Ev. 

Etiyani  ya  Nyenyfi,  S.  S. 

S 

Bata  1st  S. 

S. 

119 

Licentiates. 

Spencer  Trask  Mbora. 

George  Wm.  Bain  Iguwi. 

Itongolo  ja  Ivina,  S.  S. 

Batanga,  S. 

s. 

208 

Owondo- Lewis. 

4 

Benita,  V. 

230 

Evune,  V. 

117 

Ogowe,  I  St 

V. 

82 

2d 

V. 

68 

"        3d 

V. 

106 

Candidates — 8. 

9 

1090 

XVIII.  THE  OUTLOOK. 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  year  1887  the  problem  faced 
us,  viz.,  What  to  do  with  all  the  Churches,  com- 
municants, and  the  work  connected  therewith  in 
the  Gaboon  and  Ogove  parishes?  the  Presbyterian  For- 
eign Board  having  advised  the  Mission  to  retire  to  the 
northern  and  German  part  of  our  field,  and  transfer  to 
the  Protestant  Church  of  France,  all  the  work,  including 
two  of  our  Churches,  lying  in  French  Colonial  territory. 
To  part  with  those  Churches  would  have  been  like  giving 
away  a  hand  or  an  eye.  But  the  transfer,  it  was  hoped, 
would  be  for  the  aid  and  better  protection  of  our  Church 
members  living  under  French  government.  Up  to  Feb- 
ruary, 1888,  that  painful  problem  was  only  partially 
solved,  (because  of  that  French  body's  financial  inability 
to  accept  the  proposed  transfer),  by  their  showing  their 
willingness  to  aid  us,  in  furnishing,  at  our  Board's  ex- 
pense, French  Protestant  teachers.  This  unsatisfactory 
state  of  afifairs  continued  a  few  years  longer.  It  was 
finally  settled  in  1892  by  the  French  Protestant  Society 
consenting  to  take  over  our  entire  Ogove  work;  which 
it  has  carried  on  with  efficiency  and  success. 


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